Thirty-two years ago, I started my career at Associated Engineering. As a Design Engineer working on bridges and transportation structures for the resource sector and municipalities, I wanted to design safe transportation infrastructure that supports our economy. Never did I imagine that three decades later, I would become President, and then this year, President & CEO. Thank you to Kerry Rudd, who retired this year as President & CEO, and our Board of Directors for their confidence in me.

One of my first actions as President was to embark on a new Strategic Plan, which we launched last year. Themed Shaping our Shared Future, our vision is to deliver creative solutions for a healthy, resilient world, and, in doing so, create a meaningful legacy for future generations.

I’m very pleased that as we complete the first full year of our new strategic plan, we’ve delivered on many goals. One of the initiatives that I’m particularly proud of is the development of a company-wide member-in-training (MIT) program. I believe the MIT program will help staff develop the competencies they need to become registered as professionals and lead successful careers. The MIT program has the added benefit of helping to connect our young professionals to opportunities that can arise throughout the company.

2019 has been another successful year for the company.

I’d like to congratulate the teams that worked on the University of Saskatchewan’s Livestock and Forage Centre of Excellence and Calgary Zoo Flood Mitigation projects. Both projects received Awards of Excellence at the annual Canadian Consulting Engineering Awards. These awards are a testament to our innovation and technical excellence.

I’d also like to acknowledge our team who worked on the Regina Bypass, which opened in October. This $1.88 billion project is the largest in Saskatchewan’s history. As Owner’s Engineer, we employed a One Company approach, drawing on the expertise of staff from across the country. Our One Company approach is part of the success of Associated Engineering.

In closing, I’d like to thank all our staff for their contributions and dedication to our clients and the projects they work on. Your service and creativity are what differentiates us.

Thank you to our clients for selecting Associated as your consultant and trusted advisor. We appreciate your trust in us, and the positive relationships we have forged.

I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and all the best in the New Year!

Martin Jobke, P.Eng.

President & CEO

featured:p4 Northern Canada

welcomes winter construction season

p7 Regina Bypass opening

p8 Toronto’s Prince Edward Viaduct

Published by the Associated Engineering

Group of companies

Season’s Greetings

Ontario operation achieves requirements for Health & Safety Certificate of Recognition We are pleased to announce that our Ontario operation has met the requirements for the Certificate of Recognition (COR) in Health and Safety. This milestone is the culmination of over a year’s work by staff and reinforces our commitment to a safe work environment. Our External Auditor echoed that our hard work in building a safe and healthy work environment has resulted in positive employee feedback.

Matt Eades, Vice President & General Manager of our Ontario operation, thanked all staff for their hard work and commitment to achieve this major milestone. He recognized the special efforts of Rob Keizer, Cieanna Nandial, and Allison Mumo for helping the company pass our first COR audit.

in this issue1 Season’s Greetings

2 Associated wins top honours for Canadian Consulting Engineering Excellence

Ontario operation achieves requirements for Health & Safety Certificate of Recognition

3 Don Kennedy receives Engineers and Geoscientists BC’s R. A. McLachlan Memorial Award, the highest award for Professional Engineers in BC

Lianna Mah elected as President of Engineers & Geoscientists BC for 2019-2020

4 Northern Canada welcomes winter construction season

5 Associated staff showcase expertise and support Western Canada Water Annual Conference

Associated features transportation and ITS expertise at 2019 TAC-ITS Canada Joint Conference & Exhibition

6 Staff profile - Danielle Makari

7 Regina Bypass will save lives

8 Detailed investigation of Toronto’s Prince Edward Viaduct identifies safety improvements

9 Congratulations to our 2019 Service Award recipients

10 New Dawson City Water Treatment Plant designed with resilience in mind, improves drinking water quality

11 Employee News

Building Communities

12 Bioengineering is a cost effective means to build ecological resiliency after 2016 wildfires in Fort McMurray

If you’d like to receive AE Today electronically, write to aetoday@ae.ca

Associated wins top honours for Canadian Consulting Engineering Excellence

In October, the Association of Consulting Engineering Companies-Canada and Canadian Consulting Engineer magazine hosted their annual Canadian Consulting Engineering Awards gala recognizing member firms for outstanding achievements in consulting engineering. We’re proud to share that Associated Engineering was presented with two Awards of Excellence for the Livestock and Forage Centre of Excellence (LFCE) at the University of Saskatchewan and the Calgary Zoo Flood Mitigation project.

The Livestock and Forage Centre of Excellence project won an Award of Excellence in Project Management. Our project team worked with the University of Saskatchewan and a diverse group of government and industry stakeholders to design the facility-the largest and most comprehensive centre of its kind in Canada. The facility is a true showcase of technological advancement, both in its design to accommodate large live animals throughout their lifecycle, and its ability to satisfy the requirements of a wide range of research interests. The awards jury

recognized the project’s technical complexity, the challenges of liaising with the many stakeholders, and the role the facility plays in improving the environmental stewardship of the agriculture industry.

The Calgary Zoo project won an Award of Excellence in Water Resources. In conjunction with ISL Engineering, this project delivered the design and implementation of a flood mitigation plan to protect the zoo’s infrastructure and secure its future on St. George’s Island for the City of Calgary. A unique mitigation system was chosen with complete overland and subsurface isolation of St. George’s Island. The flood mitigation system included a sheet pile cofferdam perimeter wall combined with a dual-purpose dewatering system to delicately manage interior stormwater runoff and groundwater during the annual flood season. The awards jury noted how this project focused on problem solving and redundant design which showcases the true effectiveness of technical engineering.

Congratulations to the team members involved on both of these award-winning projects!

Martin Jobke (2nd from left), Doug Thomson (centre), and Helder Afonso (2nd from

right) accept the award for the Livestock & Forage Centre of Excellence project

Calgary Zoo project team members

ISSUE 4 • 20192

Don Kennedy, Vice President of Transportation Structures for the Associated Engineering group of companies, has received Engineers & Geoscientists BC’s top award for Professional Engineers, the R. A. McLachlan Memorial Award for 2019. The honour recognizes Don’s technical contributions, leadership in the profession, contributions to professional engineering, as well as his professional and community service.

Don has 35 years of experience in the design and management of bridges and transportation structures projects across Canada and in New Zealand. Specializing in earthquake engineering, he has participated in seismic assessment and rehabilitation projects throughout BC. A testament to Don’s technical excellence, his

projects have received many industry awards for innovation.

Don has played a key role in the development and adoption of performance-based seismic design methods and codes in Canada, and is currently working on the update of the Canadian Highway Bridge Code to reflect climate change adaptation and extreme weather events.

Don has also volunteered as a Scout leader for many years, devoting countless hours to teaching and mentoring youth.

Thank you Don, for your service to the profession and the community, and congratulations on receiving this well-deserved award!

Don Kennedy receives Engineers and Geoscientists BC’s R. A. McLachlan Memorial Award, the highest award for Professional Engineers in BC

Lianna Mah elected as President of Engineers & Geoscientists BC for 2019-2020 The results of Engineers & Geoscientists BC’s 2019-2020 Council election were announced in October, and, in a tightly contested race, Associated Engineering’s Vice President of Business Development, Lianna Mah, M.Eng., P.Eng., FEC was elected as President. With a platform of improving professional governance, increasing diversity, promoting climate and seismic resiliency, and raising member engagement, Lianna is highly focused on the issues facing the association at this important time in its history.

Also returning to Engineers & Geoscientists BC Council in the second of his two year term is Senior Project Manager, Brock Nanson, P.Eng., who recently joined Associated Engineering’s Kamloops office.

Congratulations, Lianna and Brock! Thank you for your service to the engineering and geoscience professions.

Don Kennedy with his wife and sonsDon Kennedy accepting his award

3

Northern Canada welcomes winter construction seasonIn the winter, many of our construction engineering services staff who typically work very long hours during the summer take a break and search for sunnier climes. For our staff who work in the northern regions of Canada, the inverse is true. Winter brings new construction opportunities in the North that can make it a very busy time of the year. The increase in activities is mainly due to improved accessibility to remote regions during the winter season.

A close inspection of a map of the northern Territories shows a landscape dotted with lakes. Where the surface is not covered with lakes, exposed Precambrian igneous and high-grade metamorphic rocks of the Canadian Shield are commonly found, making it very difficult to find overland access routes in this terrain. Also, overland routes can result in irreversible damage to the delicate ecosystem and permafrost.

In the very cold winter, the snow-covered landscape freezes and access becomes possible. The best example of a northern access road is the Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road, a 405 kilometre lifeline to Canada’s diamond mines north of Yellowknife. Annually, upwards of 300,000 tonnes of freight are transported over a two-month period to provide an annual supply of fuel, equipment, infrastructure, and other commodities to the operating mines. Each winter, a team of seven to nine staff work long hours on site to ensure that the ice road remains safe for users.

Recently, Associated Engineering was the Independent Engineer on the construction of the Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk Highway, which took advantage of the benefits of winter construction. The road was constructed in a region where suitable gravel sources are scarce. However, we needed a large volume of material to achieve the minimum embankment fill heights necessary to protect the underlying permafrost.

The high moisture content of some of the local gravel made handling and placing the material in the summer season impossible. However, placing the same ice-rich material during the winter time was possible. With the fill in place, construction activities could continue throughout the year. As can be expected, the poor embankment

material settled significantly in the following summer season and will result in higher maintenance requirements in the years to come. This is a reasonable trade-off considering the lack of suitable alternative construction methods available.

Winter access has made possible the construction of large northern bridges. Recently, the superstructure of the 1.1 kilometre long Deh Cho Bridge near Fort Providence was assembled and launched in the extremely cold Northwest Territories winter, after which work continued throughout the year. Leslie Mihalik, who served as the Project Manager of the final phase of the Deh Cho Bridge project, says, “Our staff worked long hours in the cold and dark environment to help make this project successful.”

Our success in these northern projects stems from our corporate experience working in these extreme and harsh environments. Al Fitzgerald, National Practice Leader, Ice Engineering, tells us, “A deliberate approach to safety, and our understanding of the logistical and engineering challenges of working in the North enables our team to manage risks and contribute to the overall success of projects in the North.” We combine this expertise with dedicated and robust staff who are excited to work in tough and breathtaking landscapes.

For more information about our northern engineering expertise, contact Al at fitzgeralda@ae.ca or Leslie at mihalikl@ae.ca.

Aerial view of the Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road

Cold weather construction of the Deh Cho Bridge

ISSUE 4 • 20194

Associated staff showcase expertise and support Western Canada Water Annual ConferenceAssociated Engineering had a strong presence at the 71st Annual Western Canada Water Conference in Edmonton, AB. In addition to delivering many technical program presentations, members of our staff also participated on the conference’s organizing committee. In total,

staff members delivered 13 presentations encompassing topics from flood risks to treatability and asset management.

Daniel du Toit and Dorte Koster teamed up to share their nutrient management experience in environmentally sensitive watersheds; nutrient management is becoming

a prevalent environmental issue to protect watersheds.

On the treatment side, Edith Asselin and Ryan Wirsz shared their collective experience on “things you should know and consider about air quality when designing water and wastewater facilities”.

Tonderai Chakanyuka, Nadeer Lalji, and Akinbola George presented papers on stormwater management and flood risk.

Thank you to all staff for sharing your technical expertise and experience, and to the organizers of the Western Canada Water conference.

For more information on our presentations, contact Senior Vice President, Water, Doug Olson at olsond@ae.ca

In September, the Transportation Association of Canada (TAC) and Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Canada held the 2019 Joint Conference and Exhibition in Halifax, NS. Associated Engineering staff gave several presentations on transportation and ITS topics.

Bryan Petzold discussed the City of Edmonton’s climate change risk assessment and our in-house climate change awareness training initiative. Jon Medori and Monique Beaudry spoke on innovative intersection configurations. In addition, Monique shared lessons learned from the first rural diverging diamond interchange in Canada. Darryl Schalk spoke about how to turn aging infrastructure into complete streets. Nelson Dos Santos and Judy Yu shared their ITS success story for Red Deer Transit. Judy also gave a presentation

on the importance of data. Geoff Sarazin gave a talk about the historic bridges in Battleford, SK.

Keenan Kitasaka, ITS Specialist, was a speaker in the poster session on the St. Albert ITS Strategic Plan, and Enhancing Rural Transportation Safety through Technology for the Highway 16 SAFE Corridor. As well, Keenan was a speaker at two roundtable sessions on the roles of ITS in climate change adaptation and transportation academic research.

For more information on our presentations, contact Senior Vice President, Transportation, Alan Emery, at emerya@ae.ca

Associated features transportation and

ITS expertise at 2019 TAC-ITS Canada Joint

Conference & Exhibition

Ryan Wirsz presents paper on improving rural drinking water level of service

(l-r) Kent Eklund, Dean Schick (City of St. Albert), and Keenan Kitasaka

5

Project Engineer Danielle Makari believes in the importance of strong teamwork to deliver solutions that benefit communities

Danielle with her family

“When it comes to delivering projects, teamwork is the most important thing for me. ”

Danielle Makari is a Project Engineer in our Prince Albert office. Danielle is involved in the design and construction of municipal and First Nation infrastructure and transportation projects across Saskatchewan.

From a young age growing up on a family farm, Danielle learned the importance of hard work. She tells us, “My parents instilled in us a strong work ethic. Everyone had to help out on the farm.”

At school, she quickly discovered a love of science and math, which were subjects that felt natural to her and which she excelled at. Danielle shares, “During my final year of high school, I attended a tour of the College of Engineering at the University of Saskatchewan. Before the tour I had heard about engineers, but had no idea what an engineer really was. The tour inspired me to apply to the College of Engineering.”

After graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture and Bioresource Engineering, Danielle joined Associated Engineering. She recently celebrated her eighth year with the company. Danielle credits her manager, Jeff Horan, who has supported her since she started at Associated. Danielle tells us, “Jeff created an environment for me to learn and grow.”

Danielle admits that being a young female in the consulting engineering world definitely has its challenges, some of which she still experiences today. She tells us, “Sometimes you’re not taken seriously, or others don’t trust your knowledge or judgement. There are some hard days, but having a support system of a good supervisor and managers has helped me get through the tough days.”

One of her project highlights happened recently when she attended a water treatment plant grand opening for one of the communities she works with. Danielle recalls, “Being involved in the celebration and seeing so many members of the community joining the festivities was amazing!”

Danielle tells us that working on multi-discipline projects, like water treatment plants, can be a challenge. She explains, “Coordinating the work of many specialty groups can be difficult. I’m not sure that I’ve figured out how to make these types of projects run smoothly, but communication between team members is key. We must keep an open flow of dialogue at all times to make sure we address all technical and non-technical issues.”

Danielle adds, “My philosophy is that everyone on the team is as important as the next person, and we each carry out a role that is essential to the overall success of the project. I always try to appreciate our team. A simple Please and Thank you are always appreciated.”

When asked what she enjoys outside of her work commitments, she says, “Free time, is that a thing?” After work, she is busy running after her two young children (aged three and five), with a third on the way this month! Danielle and her husband try to spend as much time as possible with their kids, making memories and travelling. She also stays active in sports such as volleyball and soccer.

Her advice to young professionals is to ‘never say no’ to an experience. She advises them to learn and absorb as much knowledge as you can from anyone or any situation. She advises, “Don’t ever stop learning and growing personally and professionally.”

ISSUE 4 • 20196

On October 29th, the largest transportation infrastructure project in Saskatchewan’s history, the Regina Bypass, opened to traffic. This achievement caps nearly 6.5 years of work for the Saskatchewan Ministry of Highways and Infrastructure’s Owner’s Engineer team led by Associated Engineering with CIMA+ as a partner subconsultant.

Safety has been at the forefront of this $1.88 billion private-public partnership (P3) project, which received a $200 million investment from the Federal government. At the grand opening ceremony Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe emphasized, “The Regina Bypass will save lives.” The Fire Chief of nearby White City added that, after the opening of Phase One of the project in 2017, accident frequency and severity dropped considerably.

A new part of the Trans Canada highway, the Regina Bypass diverts heavy truck traffic away from the City of Regina’s Victoria Avenue and Ring Road onto a new free flow corridor, improving safety and easing congestion in the City. The Regina Bypass also provides a better connection to the Global Transportation Hub inland port in Regina.

The Regina Bypass project includes 66 kilometres of 4-lane highway, 12 interchanges, 33 new bridges, and 54 kilometres of service roads. The project also features Saskatchewan’s first diverging diamond interchange, a design that reduces the potential for traffic collisions. The Regina Bypass is a state-of-the-art highway with Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) infrastructure such as traffic data counters, CCTV cameras, variable message signs, road-weather information systems, weigh-in-motion scales, and a new Data Management Centre to oversee all ITS infrastructure across Saskatchewan.

As Owner’s Engineer, the Associated team assisted with developing the project’s business case and completed the P3 technical and performance specifications, documents, and drawings. We also participated in the procurement phase, overseeing the process and reviewing submissions from three short-listed proponents.

The design and construction phase of the Regina Bypass began in 2015, with key members of the Owner’s Engineer team relocating and working on site with the Ministry, the Regina Bypass Partners, and the Regina Bypass Design Builders. Co-locating was instrumental in fostering the One Project, One Team approach and, ultimately, the successful delivery of the project in terms of schedule, budget, quality, environmental protection, and worker and public safety.

Associated staff from across the company contributed expertise to the project, including engineers, technologists, environmental scientists, and project analysts from our Regina, Prince Albert, Saskatoon, Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver, Toronto, and Winnipeg offices. Our Environmental division led the environmental program for the project.

While the Bypass is open to traffic, our work isn’t over yet. The Owner’s Engineer Team will continue to support the Ministry over the initial year of a 30-year Operations, Maintenance and Rehabilitation phase of the Bypass Project. Congratulations to the Ministry and the Owner’s Engineer team on the successful completion of the Regina Bypass.

Aerial view of the Regina Bypass on opening day

Key project team members

At the grand opening ceremony, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe drove the first transport truck on the highway

Regina Bypass will save lives

7

Detailed investigation of Toronto’s Prince Edward Viaduct identifies safety improvements Originally built in 1918, the City of Toronto’s Prince Edward Viaduct bridge is a transportation landmark. Spanning the Don River, the Metrolinx rail corridor, and the Bayview Extension, the Prince Edward Viaduct consists of a multi-span steel arch which supports an upper deck roadway and a lower deck for the Toronto Transit Commission’s Bloor-Danforth subway line.

In 2003, the City installed the Luminous Veil on both sides of the structure as a means to prevent trespassing and falls. The barrier is a tension, three-dimensional structure with cantilever beams. It is five metres tall and consists of nearly 9,000 steel rods, spaced to prevent egress from the bridge deck. LED lighting on the underside of the upper beam is digitally controlled and changes colour with wind speed, season, and temperature.

In July 2017, during routine lighting maintenance, the City discovered two broken bolts in two beam connections. Interim repairs were completed, and, following the discovery, the City engaged Associated Engineering to perform a detailed inspection of the barrier system and determine the root cause(s) of the bolt movements and broken bolts. The main objective was to identify required repairs and ensure the structural integrity of the Luminous Veil for the continued safety of the public.

The project team inspected the barrier using rope access. The inspection was difficult due to the height of structure and the various facilities and stakeholders operating under the bridge. Dan MacDonald-Lockhart, who has Level 1 rope access training, shares, “We used innovative techniques for the inspection which was carried out by rope access from access lifts.” Mistras Inc., which has staff with Level 3 rope access training, inspected all barrier components.

The project team explored the effects of dynamic movement of the bridge and the barrier while assessing the barrier. Working with Valcoustics Inc., a vibration specialist, we mounted sets of accelerometers onto the barrier and measured the dynamic behaviour of its components. We hope to correlate barrier accelerations to elevated stress levels in the failed bolts.

We have completed the assessment report which quantifies required repairs and locations. Project Manager, Serb Nagi, tells us, “We determined that movements from seasonal fluctuations in temperature contributed to the defects.” Associated Engineering and the City completed urgent repairs on the two beam connections. Our team is now working on design of repairs for span 4 to accommodate the thermal movements.

Due to the unique geometry of the Luminous Veil Barrier System, the construction repairs have been broken down to one ‘test’ span (Span 4 over the Don River) with the remaining seven spans to follow after successful completion of the test span. Live movement monitoring devices will allow us to observe the test span’s articulating behaviour during the design of the repairs to the remaining seven spans and make any design modifications needed based on the recorded test span’s movement data. Serb says, “We believe this two-phased approach to rehabilitation will foster contractor ingenuity, provide cost savings, and lead to a superior result.”

The project should be completed in fall 2021.

Our key personnel on this project included Serb Nagi, Christian Concolino, Mark Torrie, Dan MacDonald-Lockhart, Saman Rastgoo, Caner Akin, Pierre Burton, Don Kennedy, and Jason Dowling.

Rope access inspection

ISSUE 4 • 20198

Congratulations to our 2019 Service Award recipients!Associated congratulates these individuals who reached service milestones this year. Our service recognition program honours our staff’s contributions to our continued growth and company success. Thank you everyone for your hard work and dedication.

5 YearsMichael Binns Luc Blanchette Stacy Boczulak Chad Bosgoed Ryan Bowley Eliman Camara Eric Cheung Eric de Fleuriot Bruce Donald Kent Eklund Angela Garrett Justin Heatherington Darren Heemeryck Christopher Hegele Brice Hendriks Ryan Jalowica Kim Jepsen Maggi Jones Emilee Kaupp Tina Keochanh Tracey Kucheravy Daniel Letient Shauna Letwinetz Sarina Loots Neil Lucero Caelin Markarian Neil Markham Thomas Mathacheril Stan Mathew Donald McBrayne Aaron McCartie Troy McKinnon

Justine Meyers Keith Ogletree Ayla Pena-Bravo Ian Rogan Mason Ross Karen Runge Zian Sally James Sentes Rowan Shields Caleb Snider Helen Song Wade Sumners Christopher SwallowWendy Tian Michael Weldon Connor WhitehouseGordon Will Elizabeth WollbaumDana Woodworth Jim Zagas

10 YearsEvelyn AguilaStephen Chiasson Richard Coldbeck Anna Comerton Shawn Fehr Peter Grant Gail Ivany Alexander Jancker Michael KlawikowskiEben Kruger Alicia Masserey

Pilita Ongkiko Candice Pearce Melissa Reichert-KilbeyJoseph White Joshua Yohnke

15 YearsEdith Asselin Oksana Bratok Christopher Caers Helen Chan Rudy Chan Stuart Esplin Dusan Fil Jason Forest Robert Jardine Jacquelyn Jensen Keith Kohut Mitchell Lejeune Freda Leong Rebekka LindskoogAlan Lui Leif Marmolejo Mark Mascioli Gene Mazza Damian McGuinnessWayne Riley Steven Root Aleem Samji Nicole Tamm Juliana Tang

20 YearsTara Alexander Corinne Arkell Sean Bolongaro Gregory Brouwer Simeon Dee Jhunn Dualan Jr. Robert Hawboldt David Hayward Angela Hickie-MillerCaroline Korn Brent Phillips

25 YearsBart Cassady Matthew Henney Susan Howard Sam Lui Risto Protic Scott Taylor Joanne Verstegen Barry Way

30 YearsHelder Afonso Janet Miller Douglas Olson Richard Zepick

45 YearsLouise Parnell

Joanne Verstegen

Janet Miller

Richard Zepick

Louise Parnell

9

New Dawson City Water Treatment Plant designed with resilience in mind, improves drinking water quality Home of the Yukon Gold rush, Dawson City is a community of less than 2,000 people, and nearly doubles in population during the summer tourist season. The City offers a look into the past as it successfully maintains the original look and feel of the Klondike era.

The City provides residents with drinking water from four wells located near the Yukon River, which runs adjacent to the City. The existing water treatment plant is dated, cramped and did not meet the Canadian Drinking Water Quality Guidelines for well water. During the conceptual design stage, it was determined that a new treatment plant was required, and several locations were identified for a new facility.

The Yukon Government retained Associated Engineering to provide design and construction services for the new Greenfield water treatment plant. Together with Yukon-based Kobayashi + Zedda Architects, Associated Engineering provided a preliminary design for the plant, to be situated on two adjacent City lots along the prominent 5th Avenue.

In keeping with the City’s historic setting, the design of the facility had to remain authentic to the gold rush theme. The Heritage Advisory Committee conducts a rigorous review of all new buildings in Dawson City. Initially, several building representations were proposed, including a boomtown store front. Through the consultation phase, it was decided that the building exterior would be a replica of an early 1900’s cold storage building. The facade features a board and batten siding with a prominent front peak, narrow windows, and a spiral staircase.

During design, several unique challenges were encountered. Due to the location of the city in a valley next to a river that is prone to ice damming and flooding, flood prevention was an important consideration, as well as the impact of climate change. To improve the facility’s flood and climate resilience, major electrical and controls equipment were placed on the second story of the building. The first story was constructed from concrete. A wood frame and steel post and beam structure with dowel laminate timber panels for the roof structure were selected due to constructability restraints in this remote community.

Design of all the facilities components considered the cold climate

environment. Insulated high density polyethylene (HDPE) material was used for the extensive civil piping outside the water treatment plant, and heat tracing was used for above-ground piping.

Four different forms of energy provide power and heat to the plant. The treated water for distribution requires heating and the pipes are looped back into the plant from the distribution system to provide constant movement through the system to prevent freezing. Water is heated by a set of oil-fired boilers, as well as a heat exchanger that draws heat from the local biomass plant through an underground heating loop. A solar photovoltaic (PV) system was added to the roof of the plant which will be used mainly in the spring and summer making use of the extended daylight hours to supplement the building power requirements provided by Yukon Energy service. A variable speed fire pump was selected to reduce the building and backup generator sizes and maintain even water service pressure in case of a fire.

Water treatment technology consists of cartridge filters followed by ultraviolet (UV) and chlorine gas disinfection. Alternative filtration was considered, but cartridge filters were selected due to the high quality of the well water and the simplicity in operation of the system. Particle distribution analysis and Total Suspended Solids analysis of the treated water showed that cartridge filters provide appropriate treatment.

Associated Engineering created a BIM model of the plant using Revit and AutoPlant which helped operations staff to visualize the plant and provide feedback. This project was a successful example of Associated Engineering’s One Company approach, with expertise provided by staff from the Whitehorse, Kelowna, Vancouver, Saskatoon, Regina, Edmonton, and Calgary offices.

Construction of the 6 million litres per day plant started in May 2018 and was completed in December 2019 for $13 million.

Dawson City Water Treatment Plant under construction

ISSUE 4 • 201910

Elvis Asong, M.Sc., Ph.D. has joined our Saskatoon office as a Climate Specialist. He has over eight years of hydroclimate modelling experience, including five years in the Canadian Prairies water resources and climate impacts assessment sector. Elvis joins our Climate Services group, and has a focus on taking a multi-disciplinary approach to climate change adaptation.

Laurel Richl, M.A.Sc., P.Eng., PTOE has joined our Vancouver office as a Senior Transportation Engineer and Project Manager. She has over 30 years of experience in alternative modes planning and design, functional planning, project planning, traffic engineering, road safety engineering, functional design, and detailed design.

Malcolm Shield, Ph.D., PMP, GHG-IQ, P.Eng. has joined our Vancouver office as a Energy Planning and Emissions Specialist. He is a Mechanical Engineer with 15 years of experience specializing in community- and organizational-scale energy and greenhouse gas (GHG) modelling and accounting, and planning and delivering decarbonization strategies.

Lewis Macrae, P.Eng. has been appointed as Manager, Regional Infrastructure in our Vancouver office. He has 18 years of experience in civil design and project management of water transmission systems and hydropower projects. He specializes in the hydraulic analysis and civil design for energy and water-related projects.

Matthew Eades, P.Eng., C.Eng., M.I.C.E., Vice President & General Manager of our Ontario operation, has been named a director on the board of the Consulting Engineers of Ontario. Matt has over 28 years of experience in municipal infrastructure, water, wastewater, institutional, buildings, and transit projects. Congratulations, Matt!

Angela Peck, Ph.D. is a Civil Designer in our Niagara office, specializing in water resources and climate change assessments. She recently earned her Ph.D. for her doctoral thesis titled, A Methodology for Assessing Dynamic Resilience of Coastal Cities to Climate Change Influenced Hydrometeorological Disasters. Congratulations Dr. Peck!

Building CommunitiesThis year end, we contributed to the Victoria Food Bank, Covenant House in Vancouver, Vernon Salvation Army Food Bank, Waypoints Community Services Association in Fort McMurray, Sunrise House: Grande Prairie Youth Emergency Shelter Society, Zebra Child Protection Centre in Edmonton, Central Alberta Women’s Outreach Society in Red Deer, Edmonton Food Bank, The Mustard Seed in Calgary, Calgary Food Bank, Diabetes Canada in Calgary, Canadian Cancer Society in Calgary, STARS Air Ambulance in Saskatoon, Prince Albert Children’s Haven, and Carmichael Outreach in Regina, and Christmas Cheer Board in Winnipeg.

Employee News

Tia Hill, EIT from our Calgary office has been elected as Chair of the Association of Consulting Engineering Companies - Canada (ACEC) Young Professional Network. Tia is also a new member of the ACEC Board. Tia has five years of experience specializing in water systems. Congratulations, Tia, and thank you for your service!

Melanie Richmond, P.Eng., a Civil Engineer in our Edmonton office, recently joined a panel discussion on “Women in Industry”. The panel focused on breaking down stereotypes, giving 75 students an inside look into the opportunities, challenges, and career paths that exist for women in engineering. Thank you, Melanie for your valuable contributions!

11

In May 2016, the Horse River Wildfire devastated the City of Fort McMurray and surrounding areas of the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo (the Region) in Northern Alberta. The wildfire impacted over 500,000 hectares of land, and forced the evacuation of more than 88,000 people.

As part of the emergency response, firebreaks were created around urban areas to prevent the fire from spreading further to municipal infrastructure, public and private properties. The equipment used to create the firebreaks altered natural drainage patterns and compacted existing soils, reducing their ability to absorb water, instead, shedding runoff to erosion-prone areas.

Burned areas lost significant amounts of vegetation and soil function, resulting in increased runoff and significant erosion in wildfire-affected areas. The Region identified more than 300 sites that were subject to soil loss and poor slope stability, and retained Associated Engineering to help prioritize wildfire-related erosion sites, develop and implement design solutions to address erosion and drainage issues.

To evaluate the sites, Associated established a multi-disciplinary team including environmental scientists and engineers specializing in erosion and sediment control, civil infrastructure, geotechnical engineering, bioengineering, restoration ecology, and hydrology. We prioritized sites for rehabilitation by weighing a variety of factors to determine the level of risk, impact to public and private infrastructure, and environmentally sensitive areas. From these efforts, we identified fourteen sites as priorities for remediation.

Since most of the eroded sites were located in natural areas, the project team recommended bioengineering as the primary erosion repair strategy, augmented by conventional engineering techniques. Bioengineering is the use of plants to perform engineering functions. Native woody species develop deep root systems that increase shear strength in the soil and effectively reduce stormwater runoff by promoting infiltration and evapotranspiration.

Senior Environmental Scientist, Kristen Andersen, explains, “Bioengineering fosters natural ecological restoration processes. Planting pioneering species such as balsam poplar and willow at a high density promotes a dense root net during the first growing season. Poplar and willow are also fire resistant plants.”

The team also recommended soil decompaction techniques to promote re-forestation, reduce runoff, and improve infiltration in contributing drainage areas and affected areas. We were able to develop a low-cost soil roughening solution that uses the existing materials on site.

Project Manager, Jason Vanderzwaag, tells us, “The benefits of bioengineering include lower costs, minimized impacts from construction, carbon sequestration, and improved ecosystem functions related to watershed resiliency, water quality, habitat, and biodiversity.”

As the forest grows, natural successional processes will take effect, creating conditions for other forest species to establish. The added benefit for the community is the beautiful aesthetics of the forest as the trees grow.

Live staking of balsam poplar trees

Bioengineering is a cost effective

means to build ecological

resiliency after 2016 wildfires in

Fort McMurray

associatedengineering associatedengineeringassociatedeng associated-engineering

a carbon neutral company