LEWISTON — The Lewiston-Auburn Water Pollution Control Authority and CDM Smith have been honored with an Engineering Excellence Award by the American Council of Engineering Companies for the new anaerobic digestion and energy recovery facility in Lewiston.

CDM Smith accepted the award on behalf of the project team and shared it with LAWPCA at a recent board of directors meeting.

LAWPCA provides water reclamation treatment in Lewiston and the Auburn sewerage district in Southern Maine. The authority treats 13 million gallons of sewage every day at the district’s 35-year-old plant and needed to better manage increasing costs for energy and bio-solids disposal. The facility lowers utility costs by breaking down biodegradable waste and creating energy and heat in the process.

CDM Smith partnered with LAWPCA to provide planning, design and construction oversight for the new anaerobic digestion and energy recovery facilities, which were completed in 2013. The project saves the utility approximately $600,000 per year, providing significant energy and environmental benefits, including:

* Reducing solids produced at the plant by 45 percent and lowering biosolids management costs more than a third;

* Reducing power used at the plant by half, cutting carbon emissions by 80 percent;

* Using biogas from sludge to produce approximately 9,600-kilowatt-hours of electricity.

The $14 million project is the largest single capital investment made by the LAWPCA in 30 years and was funded through the state’s revolving loan fund administered by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection and the Maine Municipal Bond Bank. Feasibility study projections estimate the facility will reduce annual operating costs by 40 percent, saving $15 million to $25 million during the next 25 years.