NEW YORK — AECOM Technology Corporation announced today that a team from the University of Colorado Boulder (CU-Boulder), located in Boulder, Colo., won first prize in AECOM’s 2010-2011 Water/Wastewater Academic Design Competition. In its eighth year, the annual design competition challenges students from post-secondary institutions in North America to develop solutions to real-life engineering problems, then present and defend their solutions to a panel of water and wastewater industry professionals.

“This year, 15 teams from 10 universities across the United States and Canada entered the competition,” said Rob Andrews, AECOM’s global managing director, Water. “It’s really important for today’s youth to think about real-world issues in the industry.”

Six semi-finalist teams were selected for videoconference interviews and two finalist teams from CU-Boulder and McGill University in Montreal were invited to AECOM’s offices in New York for in-person interviews. The winning team received a trophy and cash award for its proposed design and cost estimate of an expansion to a surface water treatment plant for removal of conventional contaminants and hardness.

The final judging panel included Keith Mahoney of the New York City Department of Environmental Protection; John Fillos, Ph.D., from the City College of New York; and AECOM’s Bill Clunie, vice president, Water; and Bill Pfrang, technical manager, Water.