The Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts Thursday unveiled “Rachel,” a boring machine that will build a tunnel as part of the Clearwater Project, which will protect local waterways by addressing aging infrastructure.
The Sanitation Districts undertook a multi-year planning and environmental review effort to ensure the reliability of its main sewer system that serves more than 5 million people. The system’s largest wastewater treatment plant currently uses two tunnels, which are more than 60 years old, to convey cleaned water to the ocean.
“The planning effort identified the need for a new tunnel to ensure the reliability of this critical part of the sewer system,” according to the Sanitation Districts. “The new 18-foot diameter, seven-mile-long tunnel will address concerns about the integrity of the existing tunnels, earthquake resilience and capacity.”
Tunneling will start this summer and take about four years to complete.
“This is a once-in-a-generation project and we’re excited to be on the verge of tunneling,” said Robert C. Ferrante, general manager of the Sanitation Districts. “I want to thank all the people who helped get us to this point. There were years of planning and design work by our staff and many outside experts, as well as support from Carson and the City of Los Angeles.”
Sanitation Districts Board Chair and Whittier City Council member Cathy Warner said: “As Californians, we enjoy a great standard of living in large part due to the quality of our infrastructure. This project is an investment to maintain that standard of living and preserve the environment for our grandkids.”
Los Angeles City Council member and Sanitation Districts Director Joe Buscaino said the project is planned “so that there will be little to no disruption to the local community, as the bulk of the surface activity will be located at the shaft site next to the treatment plant.”
L.A. County students were invited to enter a contest to name the tunnel boring machine and another contest to submit artwork illustrating the importance of protecting our waters. The winning name came from Hanna Hsu, a fifth-grader at Highland Oaks Middle School in Arcadia. She suggested the machine be named for Rachel Carson, who helped spark the environmental movement with her 1962 book “Silent Spring,” which warned of the dangers to all natural systems from the misuse of chemical pesticides such as DDT.
The name and winning artwork from three students — Dagny Tang, a second-grader at Montemalaga Elementary School in Palos Verdes; Ashanti Perez, a seventh-grader at Thomas Starr King Middle School in Los Angeles; and Emilie Tyler, a senior at Palos Verdes Peninsula High School — were placed on the side of the machine.
The Sanitation Districts serves the wastewater and solid waste management needs of 78 cities and unincorporated areas in Los Angeles County.
For more information on the Clearwater Project, visit: www.clearwater.lacsd.org.