WASA to replace leaky mains at cost of $201m

Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) from tomorrow will begin a new series of work on the largest pipeline replacement project to be undertaken in the history of the utility with the change-out of 40 kilometres of the Hollis Trunk Main (North). The project is expected to cost an overall $201 million and would be executed over an 18-month period, a statement from the utility said yesterday.

The pipeline, which extends from the Hollis Reservoir, Valencia, to the Eastern Main Road, Laventille, was originally constructed in 1936. The replacement of the southern portion of the 10-kilometre Hollis Trunk Main was completed on October 23, 2012. This was achieved at a cost of $20.9 million, the release added.

The authority said the project would be executed in six phases eventually ending at the Hollis Water Treatment Plant, Valencia. Work under phase one began last  July 2012 with the installation of 1.6 kilometres of 400-mm diameter pipelines from Coconut Growers Association (CGA) along Old St Joseph Road to Pashley Street, Laventille.

Another component of phase one would also begin tomorrow with the installation of 3.9-kilometer of 500-mm diameter pipelines along the Priority Bus Route from Pashley Street, Laventille, to El Socorro Road, San Juan. Overall phase one would entail the installation of ten kilometres of pipeline stretching to the Valsayn Waterworks.

Benefits of the project:
• Improved level of service to customers served by the Hollis Trunk Main;
• Reduced leakage and losses of water along the transmission and distribution systems;
• Increased pressures to booster stations;
• Improvement in reliability of supply to various communities along the East West Corridor.

The authority said in May 2011 it commissioned the replacement of 28.7 kilometres of the Navet Trunk Main, then the largest project to the undertaken by the utility, at a cost of $117 million. WASA said the replacement of the Hollis Trunk Main forms part of it’s broader mains-replacement programme to address the problem of aged and leaky mains, which is a major contributing factor to the high percentage of unaccounted for water, which ranged between 40 to 50 per cent.