January 2013
Archer Western Project Wins USACE Award of Excellence
By Rob Infantino, Mike Stockham and Dusan Stanisic, P.E.
In southwestern Arizona, where three rivers meet near the City of Phoenix, an ambitious environmental engineering project is sustaining natural habitats, improving water quality, and helping a community with flood risk and wastewater management. This large-scale and comprehensive collaboration was conceived and developed to achieve many diverse objectives. And it is succeeding.
The multi-year design and construction effort administered by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Los Angeles District sought to provide flood risk management for the local community and restore area ecosystems and natural habitat. Improving water quality, recreation and education played a role in enhancing a 7-mi-long tract of land where the Salt, Gila and Agua Fria Rivers converge.
The Tres Rios Environmental Restoration Project also involves site improvements to increase water quality by reducing nitrogen levels in wastewater from a nearby treatment plant. Landscaping to facilitate advanced nitrogen removal, as well as to help restore ecosystems, was a significant aspect of the project. The work has required an array of engineering disciplines to meet civil, geotechnical/foundation, and hydro design and construction challenges. A flood risk management levee, an effluent pump station, marshes and riparian corridors are just part of what is envisioned to be a long-term restoration endeavor. [Click here to read the full article]