Media Release

09 May 2008

Desalination plant - tunnel boring machines being assembled

Today Sydney Water’s Managing Director inspected the desalination plant site at Kurnell.

The desalination plant, to be powered by wind, is part of Sydney Water’s long-term strategy to secure the city’s water supply.

The desalination plant is on time and on budget to deliver water in the summer of 2009-10.

This week the first tunnel boring machine arrived on site and is being assembled inside the tunnel entrance.

A roadheader was used to build the launching chambers for each machine. These chambers are 140 metres long and I am told they were excavated in world record time.

The tunnel boring machines will drill through solid sandstone, out under the seabed, preparing the seawater intake and outlet tunnels. Each tunnel will be 2.5 kilometres long and 4 metres in diameter.

The two tunnels run from the plant site to a point about 400 metres offshore in the Tasman Sea near Cape Solander. The end of each tunnel will be about 20 metres under the sea bed with approximately 20 metres of sea water above.

Each tunnel boring machine is effectively a self contained factory, and is very safe. Each of these sophisticated machines needs only six to eight people to operate it. Nearly everything is automated and computer aided.

The tunnel routes are S shaped to minimise geological problems and the machines are kept in the right location with laser guided systems.

Significant progress is being made on-site with all the other facilities. The sea water pumping station, the electrical substation and the reverse osmosis building are well underway.” Dr Schott said.

The plant at Kurnell will be able to produce 250 million litres of drinking water a day, about 15 per cent of Sydney’s water supply.

 

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