TOPSHAM — Wright-Pierce, a New England- based water, wastewater and infrastructure engineering firm, recently earned the Grand Conceptor Award from the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) of Maine for the innovative upgrade design of the Nokomis Pond water treatment facility in Newport.

According to a news release, the Grand Conceptor is the top award given in the annual Engineering Excellence Awards program that recognizes engineering projects which “epitomize quality, innovation, value and client satisfaction.”

Thomas Todd, superintendent of the Newport Water District, cited the project as the first in New England to use the innovative MIEX process, and a “good example of engineers tailoring the best, most cost-effective solution to our district’s specific needs. The Wright-Pierce design provides quality water to our customers and helps insure compliance with state and federal mandates for many years to come.”

The Nokomis Pond treatment facility is a small treatment system by regulatory standards, which utilizes slow sand filtration as the core treatment process. EPA rules (Safe Drinking

Water Act) required an upgrade to the facility to reduce the disinfection byproducts that were compromising water quality.

Wright-Pierce worked closely with the district, pilot testing several treatment alternatives before selecting the MIEX process ( magnetic ion exchange). The process is a pretreatment system that acts as a supplemental process prior to slow sand filtration to minimize the formation of disinfection byproducts and maximize natural color removal by utilizing a continuous ion exchange process.

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