MSN -This round, metal device, a custom-made tunnel boring machine that’s decorated with colorful handprints, was lowered into a 138-foot shaft weeks ago and is now preparing to dig a two-mile sewer tunnel in Alexandria.
This mission — the largest infrastructure project undertaken in this Northern Virginia community — is meant to address the city’s most glaring pollution problem: the millions of gallons of raw sewage that it puts into the Potomac every year.
“This is really driven by the goal of improving the health of our city’s waterways,” said Justin Carl, a program manager at Alexandria Renew Enterprises, or AlexRenew, the local wastewater authority. “We’re building this mega-project in a very historic area, and we’re doing it on an unprecedented timeline.” MORE
If it’s the first time it has been done then it is “unprecedented”, ya dill rods.
It will be over budget (2.5-6 times) and over due (6-24 months).
Why not just “borrow” Seattle’s boring machine? It’s not doing anything now…
Cheaper to put in an overland pipeline to Washington D.C. where the sewage belongs.
I knew I would find it in the article, and sure enough here it is: “ This Northern Virginia city already needed to fix its storm pipes. But climate change is making it worse.” The article also mentioned “rising sea levels” exacerbated the problem. Oh really? And how much has the sea level risen in the last 100 years, that has made the problem worse?
How many communities across the country have gotten huge fines from the EPA for insufficient sewage treatment, while The DC area has gotten a pass?
How many communities like my little town
of La Marque Tx. have rotten 70 year old
sewer & water pipes? Brown cloudy smelly
water to boot. 90 billion wasted & squandered
in Ukraine…….
So the old saying I heard long ago is true? ‘Flush twice, it’s a long way to DC’.
Will there be a handle on the Washington monument to flush it?