Generating a sustainable, solar-supported energy for a multi-purpose school that connects a small mountain community, redesigning a water treatment facility and helping a small community locate funding for a safe water supply, developing aerial technology that monitors power lines to predict and prevent outages, preserving a dam that helps power a community and restoring a river that revived an ecosystem and revitalized a community – these were among the innovative project solutions employed by the American Council of Engineering Cos. of Colorado’s 2014 Engineering Excellence Award winners.

Photo courtesy of ACEC Colorado

Crews reconstruct the downstream powerhouse buttresses at the Ashton Dam in Idaho.

The awards were presented to member firms in Denver on Nov. 18.

Here are this year’s Engineering Excellence Award honorees:

• Beaudin Ganze Consulting Engineers Inc. for Crestone Charter School, Crestone, Colo.;

• Frachetti Engineering Inc., for the Nederland Wastewater Treatment Facility Improvements Project, Nederland, Colo.

• McLaughlin White Water Design Group, a Division of Merrick & Co., for Chattahoochee River Ecosystem Restoration, Columbus, Ga.

• Merrick & Co., for Tri-State NERC LiDAR Surveying and Modeling projects in Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming

• URS, for the Aston Dam Rehabilitation Project, Ashton, Idaho.

The winning projects now advance to the ACEC National Competition, which will be held on April 29 in Washington, D.C.

The council also presented State Engineer Dick Wolfe with its prestigious General Palmer Award, which recognizes an engineer in the industry who has contributed to the state of Colorado and to the advancement of the engineering community.

The council presented Honor Awards to David Evans and Associates Inc. for the West Rail Line in Denver, Lakewood and Golden; and Martino & Luth Inc. for Skyview Academy, Highlands Ranch.