Talave-Cenajo Water Tunnel Breaks Through in SpainConstruction of the tunnel that links the Talave and Cenajo reservoirs in Castilla La Mancha to improve the quality of water supplied to 2.5 million people in 79 municipalities of the Albacete, Alicante and Murcia provinces, came to an end on 12th November, 2007 when the TBM holed through at the Talave reservoir. SELI and Jaeger, subcontractors to Dragados, employed a Robbins TBM to drive a tunnel of more than 7.6 kilometresn excavating for a year at the daily rate of up to some 30 metres. Visit www.therobbinscompany.com, www.selitunnel.com, www.jaegerbau.com and www.dragados.comThe twenty-person shift at work when the TBM reached the Talave reservoir celebrated with joy and French champagne the successful arrival of the machine at the exact point, with a deviation of only five centimetres, something imperceptible in a path of more than 7.5 kilometres. Once the works are completed at the inlet and outlet water mouths in both reservoirs, which is scheduled for the spring of 2008, the project will be operational and water conveyance for human consumption between the Tagus and the Segura will begin. In all, 131 cubic hectometres will be tranferred from the Talave to the Cenajo every year. The tunnel will substantially improve the quality of water as it will eliminate the high contents of sulphates and magnesium brought by the Mundo river. The TBM arrived at the outlet mouth, in Algarrobo avenue, in October 2006 and its assembly at the site took place between that month and the following. Tunnelling began a year ago. The tunnel path crosses dolomites and limestone, as well as sandy and clayey soil. The project generated 426,900 cubic metres of spoil while 5,746 cubic metres of concrete, 253,530 kilogrammes of steel and 7,513 metres of precast concrete segments were employed.The project is budgeted at EUR47.1 million for the 3.5 m-inner diameter, 7,630 m tunnel designed to transfer ten cubic metres per second. Click here and es/78. Visit www.acuasegura.es and http://publicacion.laverdad.es/murcia/multimedia/videos/118482.html to view a video. 47/07.