By the News Tribune
The American Council of Engineering Companies of Missouri has honored Black and Veatch Corporation and Missouri American Water with a Grand Award for Engineering Excellence for the team's Jefferson City water supply improvement project, completed in December 2011.
The project included a new 12.5 million-gallon-per-day water intake pipeline and pumping station built on the banks of the Missouri River.
Company officials said the new pipeline and station helped to maintain reliable water service to Jefferson City during last year's record-setting drought.
The award recognized several challenges that the project successfully addressed - tunneling 100 feet into the Missouri River and 60 feet below the water surface, maintaining water service during the 12-month construction schedule and designing the project to reduce the environmental impacts to the river and its aquatic life.
Local firms Twehous Excavating Company, Gaines Landscaping and Central Missouri Professional Services worked on the project.
"This project replaced infrastructure that was 60 to 100 years old," said Gilbert Cole, operations superintendent at Missouri American Jefferson City. "It has been a critical factor in our ability to meet peak demands during icy winter conditions in the winter and low river levels during the summer."