When the American city of Atlanta needed to get serious about a mandated US$3bn overhaul of its dilapidated sewer and water system, it was extremely fortunate to have elected to office the tenacious Mayor Shirley Franklin.
Leading from the front, Franklin grabbed the situation by the scruff of the neck, pulled her townsfolk on-board, dubbed herself the ‘sewer mayor’, and surrounded herself with a team capable of getting results – and quickly.
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This included high-level tunnelling professionals, who provided realistic long-term solutions at realistic prices. The plan was ambitious, not a quick-fix vote winner, but a long-term globally costed re-design of the system that would make a real difference to the city’s future.
Success followed, as did millions of dollars in funding, and the US tunnelling fraternity is already reaping the benefits, with many kilometres of large bore tunnel construction underway – and more planned!
The key here is the intense speed at which this all happened, no hanging around. It needed doing, so why wait? Space prevents detail, so for more on how all this was achieved I urge you to read the article on pages 5-6 of June 2004’s T&T North America supplement.
The Atlanta situation is by no means a one off, sewers need replacing all over the world. It’s just that Atlanta had a champion who was shown, and understood, the severity of the situation and the long-term value to the voters of fixing it, immediately!
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By GlobalDataMaybe London Mayor, Ken Livingstone, could take a leaf out of Franklin’s book. It’s no secret that the city’s antiquated nineteenth century sewer system is utterly inadequate. Every year 20M tonnes of raw sewage flow into the River Thames as the network groans way past capacity.
There is a solution on the drawing board, a 35km long, 7m-10m diameter tunnel with a cost estimated in the region of US$3.5bn.
But who is London’s champion? It seems Livingstone is warming to the plan though. In September he ‘urged’ UK water regulator OFWAT, to allow regional supplier Thames Water to increase its water charges so the tunnel can be built. Unfortunately, the word ‘urge’ is never very convincing and the whole thing already looks like becoming yet another political football, not the critically needed piece of infrastructure that it is.
It’s a shame that by the time somebody somewhere in the UK makes a decision, the CTRL’s eight x 8m diameter TBMs with a recent proven record under London will be long gone, along with the skilled workforce that managed them.
Procrastination may be the thief of time, but let’s make sure it’s not allowed to steal from our industry.
Tris Thomas
