The American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) of Wisconsin announced today its juried selection of 2022 Engineering Excellence Award winners. The City of Brodhead and MSA Professional Services, Inc. (MSA) were together chosen to receive a Best of State Award for the city’s Water Quality Trading program, a designation given to projects demonstrating the highest degree of engineering achievement, skill and creativity in the state of Wisconsin.

Engineering Excellence Award recipients are selected by a diverse jury and project submissions are appraised on the achievement of five categories: original or innovative application of new or existing techniques; future value to the engineering profession and perception by the public; social, economic and sustainable design considerations; complexity; and exceeding owner needs.

The City of Brodhead Water Quality Trading (WQT) program is a multi-faceted solution to surpassing water quality based effluent limits (WQBELs) for phosphorus and protecting the local watershed from harmful nutrient runoff. The trading program successfully reduces the municipality’s total phosphorus load by 1,090 pounds per year, generates approximately 390 annual pounds of WQT credits, revitalizes 1.2 miles of eroding streambanks along a phosphorus-contributing creek, and establishes long-term influential nutrient management practices at a local dairy farm. It also saves the City approximately $3.8 million in lifecycle costs as compared to making significant investments in upgrades to an existing wastewater treatment facility.

MSA agricultural and water resources engineers worked in close concert with City leaders, local landowners and environmental conservation groups to deliver the most sustainable, high-impact solutions. Work along Searles Creek involved the mitigation of 62 actively eroding streambanks with techniques that included soil bioengineering, natural erosion control and the reintroduction of backwater refuges and habitat for aquatic wildlife. Project solutions at a local dairy farm included the construction of a new 2.2-million-gallon manure tank, installation of roof infrastructure to reduce runoff, the addition of waste reception tanks and tranfer piping, and improvements to nutrient management practices of crop fields — all to further reduce phosphorus from entering the local watershed.

“MSA and the City of Brodhead are honored to receive this recognition,” remarked Jason Miller, PE, vice president of water services at MSA. “We extend our thanks to the award jury and congratulate all the other award recipients. All projects should be celebrated on their own merits and for the positive contributions they make within Wisconsin communities.”

ACEC Wisconsin Best of State Award recipients advance to the ACEC National competition in Washington, D.C. and will be formally recognized at the 2022 ACEC Wisconsin Awards Banquet on April 22, 2022.