CLEANUP PIPE NOW IN PLACE
414-metre plastic tube will
carry treated sewage effluent

by James Keller

A large black pipe snaked through Halifax Harbour on Friday, the latest step toward completing the $333-million Harbour Solutions project.

The pipe will eventually carry treated sewage effluent from the Halifax treatment plant into the harbour.

Dexter Construction put together the 414-metre plastic pipe in Bedford's Mill Cove, then boats towed it into the harbour. One end was positioned near Casino Nova Scotia and the other extended into the harbour.

"It's like parallel parking," said James MacKinnon, an engineer-in-training on the project who watched from the boardwalk.

Once in position, water was pumped into the pipe over several hours to weigh it down. With the added weight of dozens of concrete blocks that surrounded it, the pipe sank and rested on a support bed on the harbour floor.

The end closest to the casino, which at 1 1/2 metres is four times wider than the other end, will stay out of the water all winter before being connected in spring to pipes that run to the treatment plant.

"This is quite a milestone, getting this pipe floated up the harbour," said James Campbell, communications manager for Harbour Solutions. The towing job was delayed for a few days because of bad weather, he said.

Construction on the Halifax treatment plant began this past summer, and the one-kilometre tunnel that will transport raw sewage to the plant will be complete this month.

"There's some significant construction underway, and there's real, obvious progress being made," said Mr. Campbell.

The Halifax treatment plant is set for completion by the fall of 2006, the Dartmouth plant by summer 2007 and the Herring Cove plant by the following summer.