Awards People

PARE honored by ACEC/MA

ACEC Awards

(l-r) State Representative Carolyn Dykema, Frank DePaola (MBTA Interim GM), Walter Burke (Town of Bristol Parks and Recreation Director, David Potter (Pare Corp. Project Manager), Joel P. Goodmonson,PE, LEED AP, ACEC/MA President, (Architectural Engineers, Inc.), and Stephen Taylor, CBE, PE, ACEC/MA Awards Committee Chair (Hatch Mott MacDonald, LLC) Frank Monkiewicz Photography.

Boston— Pare Corporation (PARE), a multi-disciplinary engineering and planning firm, is pleased to announce that the Bristol Town Beach Stormwater Outfall Retrofit project was a Bronze Award Winner at the American Council of Engineering Companies of Massachusetts (ACEC/MA) Engineering Excellence Awards. The awards ceremony was held Wednesday, March 18th at the Royal Sonesta Hotel in Cambridge, MA.

Receiving the award were Walter Burke, Parks and Recreation Director for Bristol, Rhode Island, and David Potter, PARE’s Project Manager. The Bristol Town Beach Stormwater Outfall Retrofit was recognized for being an innovative, aesthetically pleasing, and sustainable solution to a chronic public health issue – beach closures due to unhealthy levels of pathogens in the water following storm events.   Following a detailed analysis of the contributing watershed, PARE designed Rhode Island’s first Gravel Wet Vegetated Treatment System (GWVTS) to reduce the pollution and harmful pathogens that previously were released at this beach on Narragansett Bay.   Prior to the design and implementation of the project, the Bristol Town Beach was closed to swimming on 85 summer days between 2000 and 2012. Since the project was completed in 2013, there have been zero beach closings.

GWVTS 3D Profile

GWVTS 3D Profile

The design uses a vegetated permanent pool split between two cells to temporarily capture stormwater runoff from the adjacent recreational facilities and residential neighborhoods.  The cells create an ideal environment for beneficial bacteria that feed on the pathogens and suspended solids carried by the stormwater. The two cells within the GWVTS are planted with a variety of aesthetically pleasing flowers and shrubs that also function as filters.  Plantings were chosen to be sustainable with minimal maintenance.  Because of the innovative techniques employed, the town uses the facility as a public educational opportunity.   PARE provided a description of the treatment process and created a graphic illustration for use in an educational display at the site.

Bristol

Bristol Town Beach Stormwater Outfall Retrofit

When discussing the success of the project, PARE’s staff unanimously credit Bristol Parks and Recreation Director Walter Burke for embracing new technology and methods that not only solved a recurring environmental problem for one of his facilities but also provided a demonstration project for other communities.  It is hoped this project will spur similar sustainable designs in other towns on Narragansett Bay and beyond.  For his vision and persistence, Walter Burke received the 2014 Environmental Achievement Award from Rhode Island’s Save the Bay, a 45-year-old environmental advocacy organization that works to protect and improve Narragansett Bay.  The award is presented annually to those individuals, corporations or organizations that have demonstrated outstanding leadership and commitment to the environmental protection of Narragansett Bay and its watershed.