Abu Dhabi Sewerage Services Company taps CH2M HILL to manage billion dollar strategic Tunnel Enhancement Programme

CH2M HILL will oversee the delivery of a 40- kilometer long sewer tunnel leading from the northern part of Abu Dhabi Island to the Mainland.

Other elements of STEP include approximately 40km of new link sewers up to 3 meters in diameter and two large new pumping stations each of 30m3/second capacity.

The entire programme is expected to take six years to complete.

"The programme is not only focused on optimized investment delivery, but has been crafted to support the strategic objectives of the business as a whole," says ADSSC Managing Director Alan Thomson.

"In CH2M HILL, I am positive that we have found the right partner to deliver this programme and to utilize their worldwide expertise to help supplement the efforts of ADSSC to be the best-practice wastewater company in the region."

STEP is needed because population growth is putting increased pressure on the existing system serving Abu Dhabi Island and the adjacent Mainland.

The gravity tunnel and the link sewers feeding into the tunnel will enable ADSSC to eventually decommission existing pumping stations, thereby reducing operating and maintenance costs. ADSSC currently treats nearly 450,000 cubic meters of wastewater a day.

As the population on the Island and Mainland is expected to double in the next 5-7 years, significant additional capacity will be needed.

"With Abu Dhabi's significant population growth over the past 20 years, STEP will enable ADSSC to prepare for future expansion and continue to protect the environment and improve the quality of life for Abu Dhabi residents, says CH2M HILL's Managing Director Omur Akay.

"We're pleased to partner with ADSSC to deliver this innovative sewerage programme to support the city's sustainable development plans into the future."

As programme manager, CH2M HILL will assist ADSSC in assuring the successful implementation of STEP through all phases, including planning consents, conceptual and preliminary design, administration and supervision of Design and Build construction contracts, stakeholder communication, commissioning and start-up of new facilities.

CH2M HILL has been working in the UAE for more than a decade and currently has over 400 professionals in six offices throughout UAE.

Programme Manager Bob Marshall successfully completed a seven year assignment in Singapore and transferred to Abu Dhabi to lead the Strategic Tunnel Enhancement Programme.

STEP is the latest in a collection of major sewer tunnel programmes managed by CH2M HILL.

Recently, the firm was awarded programme management for a similar effort in London: The Thames Tideway Tunnel Programme, a combined sewer overflow system including a 32-kilometer-long storage tunnel that will be the deepest ever built beneath London.

The firm also has completed a comparable project in Singapore, where it provided programme management for one of the world's largest wastewater reclamation and sewer tunnel projects, and in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for the first large, successful combined sewer overflow deep-tunnel system completed in the U.S.