Presented at a joint awards program on September 23 in Rohnert Park, the awards recognize two local Sonoma County projects for which Brelje & Race provided civil engineering planning, design, and construction phase services.
The Alliance Redwoods Water Conservation Project was honored with Water Project of the Year. Alliance Redwoods Conference Grounds, a retreat center in west Sonoma County, needed a reliable source of drinking water. Its aging wells were located offsite and subject to shifting ownership. Looming regulatory changes threatened to make them unusable altogether. Rather than treat this as a simple supply problem, Brelje & Race saw a bigger opportunity to bring Gold Ridge Resource Conservation District and conservation funders to the table for a multi-sector collaboration that would upgrade infrastructure and better allocate limited water resources. By connecting the camp to the nearby Occidental and Camp Meeker public water system, shifting irrigation demand to groundwater, and improving efficiency to reduce overall irrigation demand, the project ended surface water diversion from a tributary of Dutch Bill Creek, a critical habitat for salmonids. The result: dependable water supplies for the camp, upgraded facilities for the public water system, and more water in Dutch Bill Creek for protected fish.
The Geysers Pipeline-Delta Pond Connection Project received the Recycled Water Project of the Year award. For this project, the City of Santa Rosa sought to add redundancy to safeguard against disruption to recycled water deliveries through the Geysers Recharge Pipeline. Brelje & Race Consulting Engineers devised an effective solution that leverages existing storage in Delta Pond. Upgrading the connection between the Geysers Pipeline and Delta Pond, the project replaced a 12-inch blow-off line with a high-capacity discharge facility capable of moving up to 50 million gallons a day, affording the City greater flexibility and a safeguard against failure of the existing reclamation piping network. The end result is a more resilient recycled water system and a better-protected environment.
A joint effort of the ACEC North Coast and Marin Chapters, the annual Engineering Excellence Awards competition recognizes outstanding engineering projects across the North Bay. A committee of distinguished engineers select from projects nominated by member firms for recognition.
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