March 3, 2010
Reston, Va. — The Arrowhead Tunnels Project by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California was selected by the American Society of Civil Engineers’ (ASCE) as a finalist for the 2010 Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement award (OCEA). The Arrowhead Tunnels Project is one of five finalists for the annual award, which will be presented to the winner at a gala in Washington, D.C. on March 25, 2010.
The Arrowhead tunnels represent the final part of a 17-year water conveyance scheme—the Inland Feeder Program—which will now provide for a six month emergency water supply for 15 million people in the heavily populated Southern California area. The feeder can convey up to 650 million gallons per day of water from the California State Aqueduct to the recently completed Diamond Valley Lake near Hemet, Calif. The completed tunnels cross more than 20 fault zones and are designed to ensure the feeder provides reliable water supply to the region in the event of a large earthquake or other catastrophe.
The project’s two 12-foot diameter tunnels have a combined length of 9.6 miles and are located just east of the San Andreas Fault. Their creation required more than five years of mining by two massive tunnel boring machines. The machines passed through a number of different geologic conditions, from strong granite and marble to highly fractured rock, more than 2,000 feet below the mountains, and with groundwater pressures up to 300 pounds per square foot.
Established in 1960, the OCEA program recognizes projects from around the world for their contribution to the well-being of people and communities, their resourcefulness in planning and design challenges, and their innovative use of materials and techniques. The other four finalists are:
- The Concordia University Wisconsin Lakeshore Environmental Enhancement and Education Project, Mequon, Wis.
- The Sound Transit Central Link Light Rail: Section 710 Beacon Hill Station and Tunnels, Seattle, Wash.
- The Sutong Bridge, Nantong City, Jiangsu Province, China
- The Utah State Capitol Seismic Base Isolation and Restoration, Salt Lake City, Utah
More information about the award is available here: http://content.asce.org/handa/opal.html. For press passes, please contact Leikny Johnson at 703-295-6413 or ljohnson@asce.org.
Founded in 1852, the American Society of Civil Engineers represents more than 144,000 civil engineers worldwide and is America’s oldest national engineering society. For more information, visit www.asce.org.
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Media Contact:Leikny Johnson, 703-295-6413, ljohnson@asce.org