Building Peel’s water capacity
By: Mudeeha Yousaf
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Clean water is a necessity that many North American’s mistake as common-sensical, questioning very little about the process of obtaining it. The Region of Peel – a municipal government formed in 1974 to better serve its communities infrastructure needs in a cost-effective manner – is currently undertaking the largest and most extensive watermain project ever constructed to provide a clean source of water to the cities of Brampton and Mississauga and parts of the Town of Caledon for years to come. Business Elite Canada was live on site at the projects Shaft 2 Site on Lakeshore Rd. for the exclusive launch of the “Celtic Tiger” tunnel-boring machine that will be used on the project, and has been involved in some of North America’s largest public works and engineering projects. The machine, manufactured by the Robins Company, was showcased on June 18th, 2014 before being lowered into the ground, which was a milestone for this roaring project. The Celtic has previously been used for a similar installation project in Kentucky, and this monster of a tunnel-boring machine will start the process on the Hanlan Project by digging the underground tunnel for the Hanlan feedermain north from the lakefront.
The Hanlan Water Project began in 2011 and was prompted by “the need for additional water to meet the growing demands for the Region of Peel,” informs Bill Turner, Project Manager for the Water Capital Group who is responsible for overseeing Contracts 1 & 2 of the water project. The existing Hanlan feedermain does not have a redundant supply of water, so the region is constructing a second 2400-mm Hanlan feedermain, which will run approximately 14.5 kilometers from the Lakeview Water Treatment Plant on Lake Ontario to the Hanlan Reservoir. It is also installing a 1500-mm Mississauga City Centre Subtransmission Main that will run approximately six kilometers from the Hanlan Reservoir and Pumping Station to the intersection of Cawthra Rd. and Burnhamthorpe Rd. “We have a York-Peel servicing agreement which means we must supply water to the Region of York and the Hanlan Water Project will be able to supply that water as well,” said Turner.
The massive $450 million project consists of three active construction phases — contracts 1, 2 & 3 – all of which are under construction and funded by development charges that are applied to new construction projects. Contract 1 alone is 5.8 km in length, worth $103 million, and encompasses Lakeshore Rd. from Lakefront Promenade to Dixie Rd. and Dixie Rd. from Lakeshore Rd. to Golden Orchard Dr. The extensive construction process uses two methods, the first is open-cut, which is digging a trench and laying a water pipe in, and the second is tunneling, which uses specialized equipment to excavate beneath the surface of the road to install the pipes.
Once completed, the project will move 400 million liters of water each day through the Hanlan Feedermain and 120 million liters of water each day through the Mississauga City Centre Subtransmission Main. The design work for Contracts 1 & 2 of the project has been awarded to CH2M HILL, and Contract 3 is being undertaken by MMM Group. The infrastructure will provide operational flexibility in the case that the existing Hanlan feedermain needs to be temporarily shut off, and will accommodate the Region’s future planned and approved population growth.
Building the largest watermain project does not come without its set of challenges, one of which is maintaining the traffic in the surrounding area. The team offsets this hurdle with a comprehensive traffic management plan and traffic cameras along the route so the community can see how traffic is moving before they head out. The project managers have put community satisfaction at the forefront of the endeavor and holds individual concerns and ease getting around as a priority. The Hanlan Water project has its own twitter account (@hanlanwp), website (hanlanwaterproject.ca) and ambassadors that act as liaisons to local businesses and surrounding community, working with public transportation to navigate through traffic delays.
The project will also serve as an additional water supply as the population grows and housing increases. “This means more homes built, more businesses, more employment in the Region and allows us to get to our 2031 population numbers, which will be 1.64 million people,” said Turner.
The Hanlan Water Project will provide the essential clean water the cities of Brampton, Mississauga and parts of the Town of Caledon and is expected to be completed and in service by mid-2017.
