Second EPBM for water project in Argentina 22 Aug 2019

A second Terratec 4.66m diameter EPBM will soon be excavating the 13.5km Río Subterráneo a Lomas water pipeline in Buenos Aires province, Argentina, following factory acceptance testing. The pipeline, which is being built by Italian contractor, CMC di Ravenna, will carry drinking water from the newly-expanded General Belgrano Water Treatment Plant, in the city of Bernal in the Quilmes district of Buenos Aires, to the city of Lomas de Zamora.

Second EPBM for Río Subterráneo a Lomas pipeline

The Terratec EPBMs have been designed to tackle the variable soft ground geology along the project alignment, which ranges from silts to sandy silts, with some cobbles expected. The high-torque soft ground cutterheads feature a spoke-style design with a 49% opening ratio and cutting tools consisting of fixed and back-loading knife bits to ensure rapid advancement and minimum interventions.

The pipeline will be excavated at an average depth of 25m, beginning with a 400m radius curve before continuing along a straight alignment, reaching a maximum slope of +/- 2.0%. The 250mm thick x 1400mm wide segmental lining will comprise four parallelogram and two key segments.

EPBM will work on Agua Sur water project

The tunnel is a key part of the multi-billion dollar Agua Sur system that is being built by Argentina’s national water and sanitation company, AySA. Financed by the Government and the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF), it is the largest water infrastructure project in the country in 40 years and will provide access to fresh water for 4 million people in the southern metropolitan area of Buenos Aires.

“AySA is confident that it has chosen the right contractor in CMC for this important project and we have witnessed the close relationship between CMC and Terratec during this week of testing,” said Pablo Estigarrivia, AYSA Argentina Project Manager. “We are confident that they will work together to complete this project as quickly as possible.”