Bringing safe and reliable potable water to every community in St Lucia has been a goal of its leaders for decades. Dannion led the construction supervision and project management to achieve this for the Ti Rocher community.
The works involved the installation of 7km of 100mm dia. PVC and ductile iron pumping mains pipeline, complete with valve chambers, fire hydrants and a pump station. The treated potable water is transmitted from the WASCO treatment plant in the village of Micoud to the 100,000 imperial gallons storage tank at Morne Desir in Ti-Rocher for onward distribution. The project was undertaken under four separate construction packages.
In 2018, the potable water supply to the communities of Ti-Rocher and Desruisseaux, just inland from the east coast of St Lucia, remained on an alternating basis of every other day. Hence, on the days when water is supplied to the community of Ti-Rocher, the neighbouring community of Desruisseaux has to go without and vice versa.
Recognising that this situation is not in keeping with the development goals of the country, the parliamentary representative at the time, with the assistance of the Water and Sewerage Company, conceptualised the Ti-Rocher Water Supply Project in 2002. The Project was aimed at providing water to the community of Ti-Rocher continuously, negating the need to alternate the supply with the community of Desruisseaux, ensuring that the supply to Desruisseaux would then be continuous as well.
The initial stage of the project included (1) a 100,000-gallon storage tank constructed at Morne Desir, Ti-Rocher in 2010 and (2) the procurement of the lengths of pipe required to transmit the treated water from the plant in the village of Micoud to the storage tank at Morne Desir, a distance of approximately 7km. With the tank supplied with safe potable water from the plant, the water can then be distributed to the residences and businesses in the Ti-Rocher community.
The works to complete the project in 2018 included an updated design and the use of simultaneous multiple construction packages.
To ensure an adequately engineered and constructed project, first, it was critically important to confirm the structural integrity of the tank that had been sitting unused for close to eight years. Second, with the tank made adequate for use, the supply line, from the treatment plant to the tank, needed to be optimised and adequate provision made for population growth in the Ti-Rocher community and for further extension to future development south along the East Coast Highway.
The installation of the 6,308m PVC pipeline, complete with valve chambers, fire hydrants and a pump station, was undertaken under four separate construction packages aimed at expediting the execution of the works. The first three packages were divided along the section of 4inch diameter pipeline from the storage tank to the junction of the East Coast Highway and the Ti-Rocher main road. The final 900m section of the scheme is a 6inch diameter pipeline, connecting the Micoud treatment plant to the chamber at the junction of the East Coast Highway and the Ti-Rocher main road. This final section makes provision for future extension of supply to communities further south along the East Coast Highway.
Construction under contract packages 1, 2 and 3 from the storage tank at Morne Desir to the junction of the East Coast Highway and the Ti-Rocher main road commenced on the 6th of August 2018, and was completed in December 2018. Construction under contract package 4 commenced in September 2018 and was completed in December 2018.
Dannion was commissioned to undertake the design review, construction supervision and project management of the project to completion.
With the implementation of the project, Dannion needed to ensure that the scheduling and simultaneous execution of the various packages under the works minimised disruptions to the everyday activities of residents of the community and commuters, and that the residents received uninterrupted water supply as soon as possible.
Adrian Greenidge, Head of Highways, Dannion
