Contractor L D’Agostini & Sons Inc., used a 78-inch diameter Herrenknecht TBM to tunnel 1.5 miles for the Karegnondi Water Authority, which is building the 60-pipeline and intake at Lake Huron to supply water to the county, rather than purchasing it from Detroit. The pipeline will supply untreated water to the municipalities of the region, industrial customers, agribusinesses, rural agriculture developments, residential commercial light and heavy manufacturers. The boundaries of the water supply encompass over 2,400 square miles and over a half a million people. This is estimated to save the county about USD 3M a year.
Local media reports the next portion of the project will involve divers excavating with a hydraulic excavator off a barge to install an intake pipe. Crews are expected to burrow another 1.25 miles out into Lake Huron.
