text: Local Engineering Firm Awarded ACEC Merit Award for Templeton CSD's Eastside Force Main Project • Paso Robles Press
  TEMPLETON — Templeton Community Services District hired MKN and Associates, Inc. to provide professional engineering design and construction management services for the District's Eastside Force Main Project, completed in October 2019.
  The project redirected all eastside flows to the Meadowbrook Wastewater Treatment Plant, which increased the amount of wastewater the District could discharge to the underflow, thereby increasing the amount the District can divert at its downstream wells by an additional 242 acre-feet per year.
  MKN was awarded an American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) Merit Award for its work on the Eastside Force Main Project (ESFM).
  MKN worked closely with Templeton CSD staff to evaluate potential force main alignments, installation techniques, and new lift station locations to redirect flows from the connection point with the City of Paso Robles' wastewater collection system to Templeton CSD's Meadowbrook Wastewater Treatment Plant.
  The design included two new lift stations, upgrading an existing lift station, and over 3 miles of new sewer pipeline.
  "At $5.7 million, the ESFM project was the largest and most expensive capital improvement project the District had undertaken to date," said District Engineer Bettina Mayer. "MKN provided valuable input throughout the project, and their recommendation to use horizontal directional drilling (HDD) instead of open trench construction meant less traffic disruption, and ultimately lower construction costs, resulting in the project coming in on budget."
  American engineering firms entered their most innovative and complex projects and studies in competitions conducted by state member organizations. Projects from all across the state were rated based on uniqueness and or innovative application of new or existing techniques; future value to, and enhancing public awareness/ enthusiasm for the engineering profession; social, economic, and sustainable development considerations; complexity; and successful fulfillment of client/owner's needs, including schedule and budget.
  The American Council of Engineering Companies is the oldest and largest business association of engineering companies. MKN and the District will be recognized for the project on Feb. 4, 2021, at the Virtual Engineering Excellence Awards Celebration. All proceeds from the celebration will benefit the ACEC Scholarship Foundation, a nonprofit organization.