RETTEW Project Selected for ACEC/PA Engineering Award

Lancaster, PA, March 3, 2015 (Newswire.com) - The American Council of Engineering Companies of Pennsylvania (ACEC/PA) awarded RETTEW a Diamond Honor Award in the water resources category for the firm’s work on the Osborne Storage Lagoon and Ross Spray Fields Project. The Diamond Honor Award is the only award in the state given to a project in this category. The selection is awarded based on innovation, complexity, exceeding client needs, future value to engineering, and sustainable design. RETTEW also received the Best Panel award, chosen for best photo board design of entries statewide for the firm’s Siegrist’s Mill Covered Bridge entry. The awards were presented at a gala held March 2 in Hershey, Pa.

“These projects were rewarding in many ways; working with fantastic people and organizations to benefit the environment and local communities,” said Mark Lauriello, president of RETTEW.” It’s an honor to be selected for these awards and to be recognized by a well-known organization like ACEC/PA. It’s always special to see projects come to fruition and do our best work for valuable clients.”

The storage lagoon project, completed in 2014, was at a wastewater treatment site in Chester County, Pennsylvania. The Oxford Area Sewer Authority, serving four municipalities, imposed a moratorium on additional sewer connections in 2004. At that time it embarked upon planning and implementation of several wastewater treatment and disposal upgrades.

RETTEW guided finalizing of an Act 537 Plan for upgrades and improvements, completing redesign, permitting, construction bidding, and construction oversight for a new treated effluent storage lagoon. Concurrently, RETTEW completed the design, permitting, and construction oversight for new spray fields. The firm also assisted in securing funding for the large upgrades, incorporating energy-saving technology, and reducing the construction cost by nearly half through close management of construction bidding and oversight.

The new 39.8-million-gallon lagoon was completed first, with the 104-acre spray fields becoming operational in 2014. At that time, the authority lifted the development moratorium, as the facilities now have the capacity to treat, store, and discharge additional wastewater. This benefits the community by recycling treated wastewater for the benefit of the local agriculture, conserving natural resources by replenishing the watershed, preserving greenspace, and keeping harmful nutrients out of area streams and rivers. The site is now the largest wastewater treatment facility with spray disposal in Pennsylvania, and the surrounding community has received an economic boost now that approved commercial and residential developments and improvements can occur.

RETTEW’s Siegrist’s Mill Covered Bridge project involved inspection, design, and project engineering to restore a valuable Lancaster County covered bridge. After Tropical Storm Lee washed the structure away in 2011, RETTEW worked with the county to specify the bridge’s original design, salvage and reuse original timbers instead of steel, and include 19th-century details such as authentic stone masonry in the final restored product. RETTEW also specified and procured funding for raising the bridge’s abutments by 24 inches to avoid future issues from high floodwaters.

“Our engineers, project managers, and supporting staff work hard every day to improve the communities we live and work in,” Lauriello said. “We’re humbled and excited to honor them for wonderful projects that aid local communities and demonstrate our expertise.”

ACEC/PA is an organization devoted to promoting and enhancing engineering firms with offices in Pennsylvania. The organization presents a unified voice in state and local policy debates. More than 125 independent engineering firms comprise its membership, employing engineers, land surveyors, scientists, and other professionals.

RETTEW, ranked on Engineering News-Record’s 2014 list of top design firms, began providing civil engineering and surveying services in 1969. Today RETTEW has more than 350 employees and ten offices located in Athens, Lancaster, Lehigh Valley, Mechanicsburg, Pittsburgh and Williamsport, P.A.; Canton, Ohio; Delhi, N.Y.; Bridgeport, W.V., and Denver, Colo. For more information on any of RETTEW’s services, please call 1-800-RETTEW-5 (1-800-738-8395) or visit rettew.com.