Tungsten Carbide-Mexico’s Mixed Ground Crossings
The central Mexican state of Guanajuato is surrounded by mountains and is traditionally known for its abundant silver and gold mines, but its latest resource may be far more valuable: Water.
The Santa Maria River and a reservoir created by the newly constructed El Realito Dam are some of the most untouched and pristine water resources in arid Central Mexico. In order to supply potable water to a rapidly growing population, a mega pipeline is being built, stretching more than 80 miles between Guanajuato and the neighboring state of San Luis Potosí.
Much of the hard, packed ground in this area of Mexico consists of consolidated, cemented cobbles that can be difficult to excavate. The path of the 36-in. diameter pipeline travels into and out of densely populated urban areas and below roads, rail and waterways. Cut-and -cover was only an option for some of the pipeline, and microtunneling could only be used in soft ground portions, which left multiple hard and mixed ground crossing sites. Enter the Small Boring Unit (SBU): Local subcontractor Ingeniería en Túneles y Redes, S.A. de C.V. (INTUR) needed a swift solution for mixed conditions that were hard enough to break bullet bits. Their use of two SBUs, a 36-in. and 54-in. model, on multiple crossings up to 500 ft long was ultimately successful and tested the mettle of SBU technology.
Moving Water to the People
Central Mexico’s population, located mostly in arid to semi-arid areas, has the highest growth rate in the country. Models project the growth to continue into 2030, and with it an ever increasing demand for resources. As a consequence, many of the aquifers that currently supply 60 percent of the water in the region have been declared over-exploited and a new water resource must be found. The massive El Realito pipeline, funded by Mexico’s National Water Commission is a move to supply up to 1.5 million people in two stages of construction.
Once complete, the aqueduct will extend from a dam in El Realito on the Santa Maria River to the City of San Luis Potosí in the state of the same name, where 264 gals of raw water per second will be treated at a water treatment plant. A second phase will bring the water to the city of Celaya in Guanajuato state and make the pipeline a total length of about 85 miles.
In 2009, a consortium comprising Mexico-based Ingenieros Civiles Asociados (ICA) and Aqualia, a subsidiary of Spanish company FCC, won the USD $183 million contract for construction. The project includes designing, building, financing and operating a drinking water treatment plant for 25 years, which is estimated to treat more than 22 million gals of drinking water daily. The scope of the contract includes the treatment plant, the El Realito aqueduct to transport the water from Santa Maria River to the states of San Luis Potosí and Guanajuato, three pumping stations, a buffer reservoir, five treated water reservoirs, access roads, four electric power substations, and a communications and control system. Construction of the massive scheme began in 2010.
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