The American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) hosted its 41st annual Engineering Excellence Awards ceremony at the Bellevue Westin earlier this month and a local water provider was honored.

The Union Hill Water Association (UHWA) and its consultant, RH2 Engineering Inc. (RH2) received the “Exceeding Owner/Client Needs “Silver Award” for its Peak Extended Period Storage (PEPS) Reservoir and Booster Pump Station (BPS) project.

The UHWA has provided water to the rural community east of Redmond since 1966 and currently serves approximately 2,000 members. Growth through the 1980s and ‘90s increased demands that exhausted the UHWA’s available summer water supply. A critical supply agreement with Redmond was set to expire and the UHWA was unable to secure additional water rights. In spite of conservation efforts, the UHWA was compelled to implement a moratorium on new memberships in 2001 and hired RH2 to resolve the supply deficit.

Unlike typical reservoirs that are filled and used daily, the 2.5 million gallon PEPS Reservoir was designed to fill during the low demands of winter and be used during the high demands of summer. Facility improvements included a BPS to pump water to the uppermost pressure zones.

Responding to the need for a more centralized office with room for growing maintenance and administrative needs, RH2 recommended that the BPS be built with the new office above it. The reservoir and BPS were operational the summer of 2008 at a cost of approximately $5.1 million. The UHWA lifted its moratorium on new memberships in the early fall and the new office is scheduled for completion in May of this year.