Herrera was honored to receive a Best in State: Gold Award for Uniqueness and/or Innovative Application of New or Existing Techniques at the 2023 ACEC Engineering Excellence Awards for our Park Place Stormwater Facility Rebuild project with the City of Bellingham.
Presented annually by the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) Washington Chapter, this award recognizes engineering achievements across the state that demonstrate the highest degree of skill and ingenuity.
Through this innovative design project, Herrera worked with the City to improve water quality in Lake Whatcom by developing the Phosphorus-Optimized Stormwater Treatment (POST) system; a new stormwater treatment technology capable of removing a high level of total phosphorus from stormwater runoff. Following its development, the POST system earned Ecology’s General Use Level Designation (GULD) through field testing a pilot scale facility, providing agencies and owners with an affordable, approved, and open-source tool for the removal of phosphorus from stormwater runoff. Herrera used this technology and a computer controlled automated dosing system in the reconstruction of the Park Place Stormwater Treatment Facility, treating 95% of the drainage basin average annual runoff volume and removing over 80 pounds of total phosphorus from entering Lake Whatcom each year.
Our team is proud to support the City’s efforts to improve lake water quality and provide a safer and easier to treat drinking water supply to Bellingham and Whatcom County. We look forward to further providing sustainable stormwater solutions throughout the City and Western US. More information on this project can be found here.
