Associated Engineering wins 2006 Schreyer Award, Canadian Consulting Engineering’s Highest Honour, for Edmonton’s Gold Bar Wastewater Treatment Plant Industrial Water Reuse Facility

Associated Engineering staff (left to right) Steve Croxford, Jennifer Plamondon, Rod Karius, and Herb Kuehne receive Schreyer Award on behalf of the company

Associated Engineering wins 2006 Schreyer Award, Canadian Consulting Engineering’s Highest Honour, for Edmonton’s Gold Bar Wastewater Treatment Plant Industrial Water Reuse Facility

Associated Engineering received the Schreyer Award, Canada’s highest honour for consulting engineers, at the 2006 Annual Awards. Presented by the Association of Consulting Engineers of Canada and the Canadian Consulting Engineering magazine, the annual awards recognize and celebrate outstanding achievements in engineering.

Associated Engineering received the award for our work on the development of Canada’s first large-scale municipal wastewater recycling facility. Located at Edmonton’s Gold Bar Wastewater Treatment Plant, the facility diverts treated wastewater from the North Saskatchewan River for enhanced treatment and subsequent reuse by Petro-Canada.

Aerial view of Gold Bar Wastewater Treatment Plant

Working with the City of Edmonton and Petro-Canada, Associated Engineering developed a treatment process incorporating membrane filter technology to treat the City’s wastewater effluent to the high quality that Petro-Canada required for use as process water at its refinery. Associated Engineering completed the design and developed the construction strategy to retrofit the Water Reuse Facility into the City’s treatment plant. Compounding the complexity of the project, construction had to be undertaken without impacting operations at the Gold Bar plant, which treats wastewater from 700,000 residents as well as industrial and commercial clients. Start up and commissioning of the $14 million Gold Bar Industrial Water Reuse Facility--the largest water reuse facility to employ membrane technology in Canada--was completed on budget and on schedule, without impacting plant operations or adjacent construction. Transmission of 5 million litres per day of recycled water to Petro-Canada began in May 2006. Ultimately, the facility will be capable of producing 40 million litres per day of water.

Installation of Membrane Reactors

In addition to supplying water to Petro-Canada, the Gold Bar Water Reuse Facility will also supply recycled water to Edmonton’s Parks and Recreation Department to service a nearby park and ski hill as well as neighbouring Strathcona County.

The Gold Bar project exemplifies corporate responsibility and a successful public private partnership. The Gold Bar Industrial Water Reuse Facility provides Petro-Canada with the process water it needs without having to draw water from the North Saskatchewan River, the city’s main source of water. The Water Reuse Facility recycles a valuable water resource for reuse, helping to preserve the water quality, aquatic life, and aquatic habitat in the North Saskatchewan River.