Abu Dhabi Sewerage Services Company (ADSSC) has announced details of what it claims will be the “world’s largest pumping station”, which will be constructed as part of its Strategic Tunnel Enhancement Programme (STEP).
The Abu Dhabi pumping station will be over 100 metres deep and approximately 40 metres in diameter, with an ultimate peak pumping capacity of approximately 3.3 million cubic metres a day.
“The UAE is the third largest consumer of water in the world after Canada and the USA,” said Peter Hall, project director at engineering firm Mott MacDonald, which has been appointed to the $360m project. “There is a daily water consumption rate of nearly 550 litres per person in a region that receives less than one centimetre of rain per year. Therefore, management and reuse of wastewater is a critical component to Abu Dhabi’s long-term sustainability.”
The pumping station will be an essential component of The Strategic Tunnel Enhancement Programme “STEP” which, in itself, is one of the longest gravity-driven sewerage tunnels in the world at 41 kilometers.
The long-term goal is to have STEP recognized as an efficient, cost-effective and sustainable solution to meet the long-term wastewater collection and conveyance needs of Abu Dhabi Island and mainland.
The system will provide for an average wastewater flow of 800,000 cubic metres per day, and will have an ultimate capacity of 1.7 million cubic metres per day by the year 2030.
The pumping station will be housed in a large, deep structure at one end of the tunnel. The facility will also accommodate electrical and power generation facilities, operations and maintenance facilities, standby power fuel storage and pumping and a flow distribution facility.
The project is due to be completed sometime in mid-2015.
