On 28/09/2021  TBM Rachel started its journey towards Royal Palm Beach for the Clearwater Project: at first, she’ll go slowly while systems are tested, but soon she’ll pick up speed and build between 9 to 15 m (30 to 50 foot) of tunnel a day.  Equipment has been installed along Gaffey Street to closely monitor the ground during tunneling. 

In late June, sections of the TBM were lowered to the bottom of the 30 m (100-foot) access shaft located at the Joint Water Pollution Control Plant (JWPCP) and later the front of the TBM was assembled and inserted into the starter tunnel.  

The Joint Water Pollution Control Plant (JWPCP) is the hub of the main sewer system that serves over 5 million people in the southern half of Los Angeles County. Since 1928, this plant has operated continuously without failure and currently treats about 946 million liters (250 million gallons) of sewage every day. The JWPCP discharges cleaned water to the ocean through two tunnels that were built more than 60 and 80 years ago. 

Dragados is building the new Clearwater tunnel to ensure the continued reliability of the JWPCP and avoid any sewage discharge to the community or nearby waterbodies. The consultants Pini Group, Dr. Sauer & Partners, Gall Zeidler Consultants and SENER helped the successfully launch of the Herrenknecht TBM. Click here and us/98  for more detailed information in the tunnelbuilder archive. Visit https://www.clearwater.lacsd.org/ . 40/21.