Jacobs Associates Awarded Central Interceptor Programme in Auckland!
Jacobs Associates is part of the Principal Engineering Advisor team led by AECOM New Zealand that recently won the Central Interceptor Programme for Watercare Services Ltd. The programme is in the initial options assessment stage now, with construction expected to be completed around 2025 for Phase 1. The Phase 1 system is primarily targeted at duplicating an existing aged sewer that is coming to the end of its effective operating life. Additional key issues to be addressed by the programme include trunk sewer capacity for growth and development, and mitigation of targeted combined sewer overflows.
Phase 1 of the Central Interceptor Programme involves the construction of a new sewer tunnel, approximately 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) in length, to duplicate the existing lower section of the Western Interceptor from the Mangere Wastewater Treatment Plant to Pump Station 25, a large regional wastewater pumping station that services the western suburbs of Auckland. The design concept for the Phase 1 tunnel will focus on duplication of the existing aged interceptor, but it may also include provisions for storage of peak wet weather flows and connection of a future branch tunnel to address growth and wet weather issues in other targeted catchments.
For the initial phase of concept design work, anticipated to be completed by the end of 2011, Jacobs Associates is leading the team’s tunnel and shaft conceptual design efforts. Key design challenges will be the siting of facilities within heavily urbanized areas with tight space constraints and difficult tunneling conditions within a region of basalt-filled valleys and volcanic vents.