A very interesting and exciting project was recently started in the Bay Area. The bay area will be upgrading it’s water supply system by building a five mile long water pipe UNDER the San Francisco Bay. While the project doesn’t sound terribly exciting, it is noteworthy-if for no other reason, the sheer engineering of tunneling and building a five mile long concrete water pipe under the bay.
People may say that this has been done before, but as the SF Chronicle article highlights, the BART tunnel that was built in the 1960’s actually sits on top of the bay floor and was built in sections and submerged, as opposed to built in place. That makes the water project more complicated.
The $4.6 billion water supply system is part of the Hetch Hetchy upgrade to be completed in 2015. The new pipe will be replacing two exposed pipe systems that are woefully outdated and in need of replacement.