SmithGroup, in collaboration with Design-Build partner Skanska, designed a world-class headquarters for DC Water, a sewer and water utility serving the District of Columbia and several suburban jurisdictions. The design integrates efficient building systems and is a bold, innovative statement reflecting the agency’s mission. In this project, raw wastewater passes through a separator, which removes solid waste and sends it back to the sewer. The liquid waste then passes through a heat exchanger, which transfers its thermal energy to a separate stream of clean fluid. The heated or cooled wastewater returns to the sewer, while a heat pump utilizes the clean fluid to provide hydronic heating and cooling for the building. This is the first use of a wastewater heat recovery system in an office building in the United States and invites the agency’s employees, visitors, and the community to become stewards of the environment through the building’s educational opportunities.