Tibitoc-Casablanca water pressure pipeline: the most important drinking water line in Latin America using trenchless system

Abstract

Bogotá is one of the biggest American continent capitals with 10 million residents including its metropolitan area and one of the most traffic-congested cities worldwide. In recent years, the city’s population has continued to grow annually, resulting in significant urban development and infrastructure expansion throughout the capital. This led to one of the largest water pipelines in the world becoming a success in its implementation and execution, using trenchless technology across the highest heavy traffic avenue in the country, where the implementation of an open-cut project would generate a major impact on the city’s traffic, considering the already high traffic levels and the frequent congestion occurring throughout the city at almost all hours. Almost 10,500 meters of pipeline with internal diameter of 1.5 meters and internal pressure of 150 psi, were installed as a single pipe using two MTBMs, achieving minimal impact on daily life and the very high traffic volume. Not only did the trenchless technology positively impact the city in terms of traffic flow and citizens' daily lives, benefiting approximately 3.5 million residents (expected benefited population of the water pipeline), but also a specific study conducted by one of the most prestigious universities in the country, determined that the implementation of the trenchless technology resulted in five times lower carbon emissions compared to the open-cut installation being carried out simultaneously along the remaining 1,500 meters of the pipeline and completing a total of 12,000m of this new drinking water line.