The United States has struggled for several years to come to terms with the state of its infrastructure. Various commissions have studied the need to repair or replace the nation’s ageing roads, bridges, transit and water systems. Each time the cost estimate has been a staggering figure, causing paralysis at the policy-making level. No comprehensive plan has been developed to address the infrastructure issue. Nowhere is the situation more important than in the area of water delivery and wastewater systems.
In the 1970s the government and the public became alarmed by the condition of the nation’s waterways; they were being polluted due to inadequate wastewater collection and treatment. In 1972 the Clean Water Act was passed which provided a mandate – and federal funding – to build the necessary collection and treatment facilities to clean up the nation’s rivers, lakes and coastlines .
From 1974-1994 the Federal Construction Grants Program invested $96billion in new construction and upgrades of municipal wastewater treatment plants. Local governments followed suit with an investment of $117billion This was a successful strategy and progress was remarkable. However, this progress is in jeopardy if significant federal funding is not made available for water and wastewater infrastructure investments.
In a recently-released publication, The Cost of Clean, prepared by two leading national water quality organisations – the Association of Metropolitan Sewerage Agencies and the Water Environment Federation – disturbing financial trends are described that could jeopardise America’s future water quality. In the report, it is stated that while federal water quality funding has remained level in dollar terms since 1980, it has declined by 75 per cent in real terms.
As a result, local governments are now shouldering more than 90 per cent of the capital investment burden of water quality facilities, while striving to meet more stringent federal mandates for clean water and safe drinking water, and rising operations and maintenance costs for existing facilities. Many local governments are being forced to choose between water quality issues and other needs such as education, road maintenance and repair and public safety.
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has estimated that nearly $200billion, $81.9billion for sanitary sewer overflow remedies alone, will be required over the next 20 years to fund municipal treatment works and other related needs. Another estimate puts the number for capital investment in plants, water distribution systems and wastewater collection systems at roughly $1 trillion over the next 20 years.
The situation is similar in the area of water delivery systems. The Rebuild America Coalition, founded in 1987, is dedicated to increasing federal funding for infrastructure investment across the board. AUA recently became a member of the Coalition. They have released the following statistics regarding the condition of the nation’s water systems:
Interestingly, other basic infrastructure systems such as highways, airports, or transit systems do not face the same situation. To finance those equally critical transportation systems, Congress has established federal trust funds that assure continuous funding to meet changing needs.
The funding gap is huge and growing. The bottom line is that local government can’t be expected to meet these needs alone. The federal government needs to meet their obligation to the nation’s infrastructure in today’s dollars.
A wide array of national organisations is calling on the federal government to make investment in the nation’s critical drinking water and wastewater infrastructure a national priority. There are a variety of possible solutions including grants, trust funds, loans and incentives for private investment. Without this investment over the next 20 years, the public health, economic and environmental gains of the last three decades will be reversed.
Clearly, increased investment in water, sewer and CSO’s would also provide a much-needed stimulus to the U.S. underground construction industry.
US Tunnel Market
As the twentieth century drew to an end, the picture for underground construction in the United States was mixed. Reported bid projects in 1999 reached the lowest dollar volume level in 12 years of tunnel demand forecast reporting. Bid projects were estimated to be $265 million, for 28.6km of tunnel. However, this bid amount does not reflect the actual amount of tunnel work being constructed during 1999.
Six sewer projects accounted for the highest dollar volume of 1999 bid projects, for $205.5million of the total. There were also six water projects bid in 1999 that had a value of nearly $28 million.
The year 2000 holds more promise, as 21 projects representing over 131.3km of tunnel are scheduled to bid. Eleven of the upcoming projects have a bid value of over $100million each. Providing all the tunnels appearing in the forecast actually bid in 2000, the total bid value should be near $1billion, making it the best year since AUA began reporting bid projects in 1987.
Project Update
There are several major underground projects underway or completed recently.
Lake Mead Intake II, Las Vegas, Nevada – The Lake Mead Intake II was part of a scheme by the Southern Nevada Water Authority to provide a new water supply to the Las Vegas Valley. Las Vegas is the fastest growing city in the United States.
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“‘‘The funding gap is huge and growing. The bottom line is that local government can’t be expected to meet these needs alone”” |
The Intake was built on Saddle Island in Lake Mead, behind Hoover Dam. It consisted of a 3.69m diameter. shaft, built to a depth of 61.5m; a 492.3m tunnel to convey water to an underground pumping chamber; and 22 wells, 9.2-12.3m below grade. The structures, except for the wells, were built using drill and blast. The project was completed in October 1999.
The project is notable for the co-operation which was achieved between the owner and contractor. Both parties created an atmosphere of trust resulting in no delays and an extremely successful outcome.
TARP, Chicago, Illinois – The Tunnel and Reservoir Project has been notable from the beginning, and the recently-completed Torrance Avenue leg of the Calumet system is no exception. Using a Robbins TBM (which has been retrofitted three times) the crews of the Kenny / Kiewit / Shea joint venture broke all the previously established advance records with the following: best shift – 35m; best day – 97m; best month, 1.6km.
Not to be outdone, the lining crews established records of their own by completing 71.3m/ day.
There is one contract left to complete on Phase I of the TARP system, the Little Calumet Leg. When complete the system will total 174.7km of tunnel: 149.44km are complete and 120.64km of these are operational.
MetroWest Water Supply Tunnel, Boston-area, Massachusetts – The 28.6km MetroWest Water Supply Tunnel is being built as a backup to the Hultman Aqueduct, the single water delivery system for the Boston area, which is showing signs of age. The tunnels are being constructed by TBM in hard bedrock at a depth of 61.5m to 153.8m. Construction began in 1996 and is scheduled for completion by 2003. When complete, the Metro West tunnels will increase the Boston-area water delivery system capacity by 1704.5million litres/day.
Los Angeles Metro, Los Angeles, CA – The North Hollywood section of the Los Angeles Metro Subway System is scheduled to open on June 24, 2000. The 10.1km section from Hollywood to North Hollywood is expected to double ridership on the system.
In the meantime, due to the suspension of future subway construction, the transit agency is struggling to find surface alignments to serve the Mid-City area and the public transport-dependent residents of East Los Angeles. They are being met with resistance by homeowners and businesses along Wilshire Blvd. and neighbourhoods who object to the noise and disruption.
Central Artery / Tunnel Project, Boston, Massachusetts – Work proceeds on the Central Artery / Tunnel Project, described as ‘the largest, most complex and technologically challenging highway project in American history’. The project is to replace an ageing and dangerously congested elevated highway with an underground alignment through the heart of Boston, one of America’s oldest and busiest cities.
A major commitment of the project is that Boston’s busy daily functions continue during construction, creating monumental challenges. As a former project official was quoted as saying, ‘Building the Central Artery in the heart of Boston is like performing open heart surgery on a patient who continues to play tennis’.
The existing six-lane freeway will be replaced by 12km of eight to ten-lane highway, 50 per cent of which will be underground. The project has been under construction since 1991. As of November 1, 1999, design was 98 per cent complete and construction 61per cent complete.
The project includes a third tunnel under Boston Harbour to Logan Airport. The Ted Williams Tunnel has been open to commercial traffic for the past year. It is expected to open to all traffic when the I-90 connection through Fort Point Channel is complete in 2001.
The North Bound lanes of the underground highway are expected to open in 2002, with the southbound lanes following in 2003. The entire project is scheduled for completion in 2004.
New Projects
Some notable projects have, or are expected to bid, in 2000. Among them:
