Kuehl & Payer, Ltd was awarded the Engineering Excellence Award by the Iowa American Council of Engineering Companies in April, 2008. The awards are given to engineering firms participating in projects that are judged to meet the Owner’s needs and demonstrate originality, uniqueness and new applications of existing technology. The projects must also be of a complex nature, address social and economic factors, and be of future value to the engineering profession. Kuehl & Payer, Ltd. of Algona has been recognized with an award in the Special Projects, Storm Water Management Category for the firm’s role in the planning, design, project administration and construction administration for the Commercial District Storm Water Management Improvements project in the City of Orleans, Iowa.

Five years in development, the project addressed existing flooding problems and promoted growth in the city which bounds the shore lines of East Okoboji Lake and Spirit Lake in Dickinson County. In addition to flood relief, the project goals included a very important matter for residents of the Iowa Great Lakes area--improvements in the quality of storm water runoff that discharges to the lakes.

Kuehl & Payer, Ltd. worked closely with Orleans officials in studying several storm water management alternatives including low-impact development and on-site storm water detention for a rapidly-developing commercial district lying in an older part of the community. Social, economic and physical constraints lead to the successful pursuit of a unique solution that incorporated storm water detention on a USDA Wetland Reserve Program (WRP) site.

Kuehl & Payer, Ltd. also assisted Orleans officials and a supportive WRP site landowner to secure the necessary regulatory agency permits and what is believed to be a first-in-the-nation WRP management plan agreement that included municipal storm water detention facilities. Support of Iowa DNR and local USDA officials was important toward securing and implementing the agreement.

The project was completed in December, 2006. It diverts runoff from a 26-acre commercial development area in the Spirit Lake watershed, via a large storm sewer under a county road and railroad grade to an enhanced wetland area on the WRP site. The enhanced wetland area is designed to hold and slowly discharge runoff from very large rainstorms, bringing 100-year flood protection relief to many properties in the community. Storm water now ultimately discharged to East Okoboji Lake is of much improved quality.

The $530,000 project cost was shared by the City of Orleans, a $55,000 Iowa Great Lakes Water Quality Grant, and a newly-organized Commercial District Storm Water Utility District which placed special assessments upon 120 benefited properties. The entire project debt was financed with a special 0% ten-year loan approved by the Iowa Finance Authority from the Iowa Water Quality Loan Fund. Cost savings resulting from the reduced interest rate exceeded $86,000. Further cost savings resulting from elimination of the need to purchase land on which to place the storm water detention basin is estimated to approach $250,000

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