Smith Engineering Company Wins Prestigious Awards for its Work on the Aztec, NM Wastewater Plant
Smith Engineering Company was recognized with two prestigious civil engineering awards for its work on the Aztec, New Mexico Wastewater Treatment Plant. Because of Smith Engineering Company's use of innovative technology, the Aztec plant was recognized by the American Public Works Association (APWA) as the 2010 "New Mexico Project of the Year." Similarly, the Smith Engineering Company was recognized for "2010 Engineering Excellence in New Mexico" by the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC). These organizations also noted how the Aztec Wastewater Treatment Plant was designed around simplicity of operation and low construction costs.
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The Aztec Wastewater Treatment Plant sits near the Animas River, a well known tributary of the San Juan River (part of the Colorado River System). The Animas River provides irrigation water to local farmers and supports numerous recreation activities (such as white water rafting, kayaking and world-class trout fly-fishing). It is also a primary source of drinking water to Aztec and Farmington, New Mexico. Given its importance to the local ecology, it was vitally important that designs for the Aztec Wastewater Treatment Plant provided long-term solutions to wastewater treatment while at the same time protecting the Animas River.
The Aztec Wastewater Treatment Plant was the first New Mexico wastewater plant to meet new (and more stringent) effluent standards required by the New Mexico Environment Department. Keeping energy efficiency as a major design element, Smith Engineering Company designed the Aztec plant to use state-of-the-art nutrient removal technologies. The result was a new system that uses significantly less energy than the old plant while turning out superior effluent quality. The new plant is also very operator friendly, allowing plant operators to easily reprogram plant operations to adjust to ever-changing influent conditions.
The $9,000,000 Aztec Wastewater Treatment Plant was completed ahead-of-schedule and has surpassed the owner's expectations in all areas. Smith Engineering Company is proud to be the lead civil engineer for this world-class facility.
See our Water/Wastewater portfolio page for more information on this project and more.
