CH2M HILL is pleased to announce that the firm’s Albany-Millersburg Talking Water Gardens project team has donated $30,000 to the Albany-Millersburg Economic Development Corp (AMEDC) to support continued local sustainable economic development. The CH2M HILL team was awarded the funds as part of winning a 2011 CH2M HILL CEO Excellence Award, the highest honor a team can receive at CH2M HILL, for their work on the Talking Water Gardens project.

 

“The CH2M HILL CEO Excellence Award recognizes those who have truly gone above and beyond CH2M HILL’s everyday project success and demonstrate excellence in the firm’s Enterprise Governing Values of Delivery with Excellence and Respect,” said CH2M HILL Senior Project Manager Jim McWade. “In recognition of the importance of continuing to cultivate a sustainable Albany-Millersburg with projects like Talking Water Gardens, the CH2M HILL project team decided to donate their winnings to AMEDC rather than use the funds themselves.”

AMEDC (www.albany-millersburg.com) is a non-profit organization dedicated to fostering a healthy and viable economy in the Albany-Millersburg area. AMEDC’s top priority is creating jobs, achieved through assisting in the development, retention and expansion of local business and enhancing the economic base by siting new industry.

 

 “The Talking Water Gardens project showcases how public-private partnerships can transform our local environment and economy,” said AMEDC President John Pascone. “Thanks to the generous donation of the CH2M HILL Talking Water Gardens project team, AMEDC will be able to support innovative projects like Talking Water Gardens that consider the social, environmental, and financial benefits for Albany-Millersburg and enhance our community and economy for generations to come.”

 

 

Talking Water Gardens is a water treatment and reuse project that is the first public/private engineering project of its kind in the United States. CH2M HILL worked with the cities of Albany and Millersburg, and metal manufacturer ATI Wah Chang, to create a 39-acre functional wetlands system. As the lead engineer, CH2MHILL worked with landscape architect Kurisu International to design and construct a project to provide cooling and additional natural treatment before water is discharged to the Willamette River. Using natural treatment processes, the Talking Water Gardens project creates and restores wetlands along the river and enhances wildlife habitat. The 11 acres of perimeter landscaping provides the opportunity to reuse effluent for irrigation. The innovative integrated wetland system is the first in the nation designed to treat a unique combination of municipal and industrial wastewater treatment plant effluents for temperature, total dissolved solids, and nutrient reduction.

 

Not only is the Albany-Millersburg Talking Water Gardens project innovative and cost-effective compared to conventional treatment systems, it is also envisioned to become a public recreation area designed to facilitate recreation and educate the community about the region’s water systems. The gardens already include walking trails, wildlife viewing points, and numerous water features. In the future, other outdoor recreation amenities may be added that include seating areas and informational signs along the trails that explain the natural purification process at work in the wetlands environment, including uptake and filtering by plants, microbial conversion, volatilization, adsorption, deposition, and natural cooling.

 

The gardens will celebrate a grand opening in fall 2012.

 

Headquartered near Denver, Colorado, USA, employee-owned CH2M HILL is a global leader in consulting, design, design-build, operations, and program management for government, civil, industrial and energy clients. The firm’s work is concentrated in the areas of water, transportation, environmental, energy, facilities and resources. With US$6.3 billion in revenue and 30,000 employees, CH2M HILL is an industry-leading program management, construction management and design firm, as ranked by Engineering News-Record and named a leader in sustainable engineering by Verdantix. The firm has been named a FORTUNE 100 Best Companies to Work For five times. Visit us at www.ch2mhill.com, www.ch2mhillblogs.com/water, twitter.com/ch2mhill and facebook.com/ch2mhill.

###