History
In 1989, the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) issued a planning and design contract for a second transmission main to provide redundancy for the Hultman Aqueduct. As originally conceived, the project consisted of a tunnel combined with reconstruction of the Sudbury Aqueduct, a 19th century construction that had been taken out of service in 1978,. During feasibility studies, it was recognized that costs and environmental and community impact issues related to reconstruction of the Sudbury Aqueduct through an urban/suburban area compared unfavorably with a full length tunnel in rock, deep under existing structures and facilities. The alignment of the tunnel generally coincides with the existing Hultman Aqueduct and is constructed in permanent underground easements below several hundred private properties. The full length, unreinforced concrete lined, pressure tunnel design concept was selected and the facility was named the MetroWest Water Supply Tunnel.
After fewer than 7 years of service,on the morning of May 1, 2010 the tunnel's connection to the city tunnel extension failed, dumping its full capacity of 8 million gallons per hour into the Charles river and forcing 2 million water customers in Boston and surrounding communities to boil water before drinking it. Emergency supplies from such locations as the Chestnut Hill Reservoir are exposed to air and are therefore susceptible to contamination by animal waste.
Read more about this topic: Metro West Water Supply Tunnel
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