Tunnel Systems: The Green Solution for 21st Century Water Systems

When compared to traditional trenched pipeline/pump station conveyance systems, tunneling provides significant triple bottom line advantages in all three categories of economics, environmental and social, including: a lower overall cost based on a 50-year present worth analysis, significantly reduced environmental and community impacts, elimination of energy costs for gravity flow systems, and preservation of surface space for future generations. Alongside these advantages, the sustainable benefits of a gravity tunnel system can be magnified by incorporating additional design elements. These elements include reuse of excavated materials, multi-use of the excavation for installation of additional utilities, installation of heat exchange systems in tunnel shafts, and use of industrial byproducts as cement substitutes to reduce the carbon footprint of construction.