MetroWest Water Supply Tunnel
MetroWest Water Supply Tunnel
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| Official name | MWWST |
|---|---|
| Begins | Marlborough |
| Ends | Weston |
| Coordinates | 42°18′40″N 71°35′06″W / 42.31111°N 71.58500°WCoordinates: 42°18′40″N 71°35′06″W / 42.31111°N 71.58500°W |
| Maintained by | MWRA |
| Length | 17.6 mi (28.3 km) |
| Diameter | 14 ft (4.3 m) |
| Capacity | 1.893×106 m3 per day (500×106 US gal) |
| Construction began | 1996 |
| Opening date | 2003 |
The MetroWest Water Supply Tunnel (MWWST) is an advanced underground aqueduct that supplies potable water to residents of much of Greater Boston. It is part of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) water supply system.
This aqueduct starts at the John J. Carroll Water Treatment Plant in Marlborough, Massachusetts and ends at an MWRA terminal in Weston, Massachusetts. It is about 17.6 miles (28.3 km) long (28.3 km) and is constructed far below ground level, mostly in bedrock. It includes several vertical risers called shafts, lined with steel, used to make connections throughout the system. It is built underneath portions of Marlborough, Southborough, Framingham, Wayland, and Weston Massachusetts, with a wye intersection 235 feet (71.6 m) below the Massachusetts Turnpike toll booths at State Route 128.
In 1989, the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) issued a planning and design contract for a second transmission main to provide redundancy for the Hultman Aqueduct. As originally conceived, the project consisted of a tunnel combined with reconstruction of the Sudbury Aqueduct, a 19th-century construction that had been taken out of service in 1978. During feasibility studies, it was recognized that costs and environmental and community impact issues related to reconstruction of the Sudbury Aqueduct through an urban/suburban area compared unfavorably with a full length tunnel in rock, deep under existing structures and facilities. The alignment of the tunnel generally coincides with the existing Hultman Aqueduct and is constructed in permanent underground easements below several hundred private properties. The full length, unreinforced concrete lined, pressure tunnel design concept was selected and the facility was named the MetroWest Water Supply Tunnel.
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