February 5, 2015 – SMA Consulting Ltd. won 4 awards at the prestigious 2015 Consulting Engineers of Alberta Showcase Gala held in Edmonton. The awards went to three different projects: a risk and operations study for a wastewater management facility, project management on a new sanitary tunnel designed to eliminate flooding, and a risk assessment on possible infill development for land near a working railway.
Clover Bar Biosolids Lagoons Risk and Operation
If emptied, the Edmonton Waste Management Facility lagoons could cover 300 football fields in a meter of biosolids. Overflow could be an environmental disaster, but emergency solids removal would cost millions and put tons of biosolids in a landfill. SMA integrated advanced process simulation with full failure and risk analysis to find answers for EPCOR, using over 75,000 lines of code to process 68 million pieces of data and project results to 2024. The results showed an aggressive approach and some upgrades would keep levels safe; the new Ostara nutrient-to-fertilizer facility, sized using simulation results, would allow easy management.
This project won the Award of Excellence for Studies, Software, and Special Services
WESS stage W13
WESS stage W13, a new sanitary tunnel in West Edmonton, was designed and built to eliminate a critical bottleneck which had contributed to flooding in 2004. Sticky equipment-clogging clay, soil voids, car-size boulders, and an unrecorded concrete wall could have made the project a costly headache, but SMA and the City implemented cutting-edge planning and project controls methods to triple productivity and resolve problems with innovative solutions such as new soil conditioning polymers and HAZMAT scuba divers. The completed tunnel is reducing the risk of flooding for tens of thousands of residents and supporting record growth in West Edmonton.
The WESS Stage W13 project was awarded the Award of Merit for Project Management and the Award of Excellence for Small Firm-Big Impact.
Gateway Boulevard Berm Risk Assessment Methodology for Development Near Freight Rail
Cities like Edmonton are increasingly pursuing land near working rail for infill development as a solution to sustainable growth, requiring thorough risk assessment. SMA developed an innovative, rigorous methodology integrating FMEA, Monte Carlo simulation, and catastrophic, rail, and project risk analysis into one approach. The methodology helps municipal decision-makers, urban planners, land developers, and railway organizations to share ideas and information about how to use land near railways in more creative, safe, sustainable, and environmentally responsible ways. It was implemented successfully on the Gateway Boulevard Berm development project and identified critical mitigations needed to improve safety before development proceeds.
This project received the Award of Merit for Small Firm-Big Impact.
For more information about the CEA Showcase Gala, please visit the CEA’s Showcase Awards website.
