By Rose Bell
The City of Oslo is building a new reserve water supply that will be large enough to provide clean drinking water to all 700,000 city residents. The main drinking water pipeline, which will serve as an essential link between the city’s east and west, began construction this summer.90% of residents currently get their water from the Maridalsvannet lake’s Oset water treatment plant, but this supply cannot be sustained due to its vulnerability. As a result, it is now necessary to construct a new water reserve. This work is already well continued in Huseby and Holsfjorden, but the New Water Supply Oslo Project has reached already another significant milestone.
With a value of NOK 8.77 billion, this is the third of four major construction contracts for Norway’s largest water supply project. The AF Ghella Joint Venture is doing the work.
The first blast for the construction of the tunnel at the main rig area in Stubberud, in the Alna district, was triggered by Sirin Stav, Vice Mayor for Environment and Transport.
“All life depends on water. We could not survive in our city without water. the consequences would be too great if Norway’s capital city was left without access to safe drinking water. Oslo will have a reliable source of drinking water. The construction work that is beginning today is an investment in the security of all of Oslo’s residents.” Before starting the explosion, the Vice Mayor stated.
An 11-kilometer tunnel is being constructed by the Agency for Water and Sewerage Works from the Stubberud main rig area to the E6 motorway. The tunnel will bring fresh water from the Huseby water treatment plant to the city’s distribution network when it is finished. The majority of the tunnel, which will run from Stubberud in the east to Huseby in the west, will be built with a tunnel boring machine(TBM).
