Donohue & Associates and the City of O’Fallon, Missouri received a Grand Award in the 2008 ACEC Missouri Engineering Excellence competition. The award recognizes emergency improvements to the City's wastewater treatment facility.

In late 2006 and early 2007, three out of four screw pumps that convey wastewater to the bio-filter towers at the facility failed, and the City was in danger of violating its NPDES permit. Donohue was retained to provide fast-track design services for the failed screw pumps.

The team elected to use submersible pumps instead of screw pumps because they would save construction time, cost less, and make future maintenance and replacement easier. A typical lifespan for this project type is over one year, but Donohue fast-tracked the project, resulting in design and construction to be completed in just 18 weeks. The project met the City's requirements for a long-term solution while coming in under budget without any permit violations.