The Southwest Branch of the Michigan Chapter of the American Public Works Association (APWA) awarded the Battle Creek WWTP Secondary Treatment System Upgrade project with the 2018 Public Works Project of the Year Award in the Environmental $5M - $25M category. The award was presented to the City of Battle Creek, Donohue & Associates, and Davis Construction at the recent Annual Awards Banquet.

The overall goal of the project was to improve the secondary process treatment while reducing energy consumption and chemical use to become more efficient. This was accomplished with the design and implementation of improvements to multiple process systems including aeration blower replacement, automated valves and flowmeters for dissolved oxygen control, new chemical feed facilities which included advanced monitoring and control, scum pumping modifications, flow control and measurement to final clarifiers, complete PLC upgrades, and power distribution improvements.

As part of the design, Donohue worked with the City to secure a $9M Qualified Energy Conservation Bond (QECB) with a low interest rate that saves over $2.6M in bond debt costs. The City is receiving an energy rebate of over $200K through the local power utility. Energy efficiency improvements are providing a 22% reduction in energy, saving the facility $221,000 annually.

Donohue & Associates completed the planning, design, construction observation, and startup services for the very successful project. Davis Construction served as the general contractor.

This project is now being submitted in APWA’s state level competition.

Pictured above (left to right) Back Row: Peter Elzinga (Davis Construction), Carl Fedders (City of Battle Creek), TJ Bates (Donohue), Perry Hart and Kurt Tribbett, (City of Battle Creek)

Front Row: Rodney Clifton (City of Battle Creek), Mike Harvey and Simon Matar (Donohue), Rich Beardslee and Marvin Krause (City of Battle Creek)