Curtis Island to get water supply

Construction has begun on a pipe line to supply Curtis island with water.

Christopher Chan

Photos

Pipeline construction begins

View Photo Gallery »

CONSTRUCTION has begun on the pipeline which will supply Curtis Island with water and sewerage infrastructure.

Gladstone Area Water Board (GAWB) said it believed the pipeline was the longest and deepest harbour crossing yet constructed in Australia using Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) technology.

In a release GAWB said the infrastructure would reduce, and in some cases remove completely, the release of discharges to the harbour associated with standalone desalination plants and wastewater treatment.

GAWB said the most difficult engineering hurdle being faced was the crossing of Gladstone Harbour to the island.

The pipelines are to be installed through the rock strata under the harbour bed from the RG Tanna Coal Export Terminal on the mainland to Hamilton Point on Curtis Island.

By going under the harbour,  GAWB said there would be no impact on the above harbour environment. 

FAST FACTS

• It is believed to be the longest and deepest harbour crossing yet constructed in Australia using HDD technology.
• It is the first HDD project in Australia to use the latest steering technology from Europe incorporating an 'optical gyro system'.
• It is the first in Australia using the 'intersect process' whereby a drilling is carried out from both ends of the crossing to intersecting at a chosen point under the seabed (like the Chunnel linking England and France). 
• The drilling and reaming process is otherwise quite conventional utilizing a benign drilling fluid of naturally occurring bentonite clay mixed with water.
• Work is now proceeding to ream out the hole to accommodate a steel liner and a high Density Polyethylene pipeline.
• Ultimately 3 similar pipeline crossings will be constructed.