MWRA - About the Southern Spine Distribution Mains Rehabilitation Project

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About the Southern Spine Distribution Mains Rehabilitation Project
Massachusetts Water Resources Authority

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map of southern spine project

Project Map

Project work in Lower Mills

Historic Photo

historical photo southern spine installation 1914

Original installation of Southern Spine at Adams Street, East Milton, 1914
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The Southern Spine Distribution Mains Rehabilitation Project includes connections to MWRA's new Blue Hills Covered Storage Facility and the rehabilitation of more than 12 miles of water mains, valves and meters.

The Southern Spine is the major water distribution pipeline for Milton, Quincy and the Southeast corner of Boston. Sections of the Southern Spine must be cleaned and relined or altogether replaced.

Parts of the Southern Spine were built in the early 1900s. Some sections are very old and unlined; they have been functioning at only 50% of their original carrying capacity for years because of tuberculation (rust build-up and pocking) along the pipeline walls.

The water is safe to drink, but if the tuberculated pipes are not rehabilitated or replaced, the Southern Spine's delivery capacity will continue to diminish over time.

The Southern Spine Project will greatly increase the pipeline's delivery capacity. It will also extend its overall life span by at least 50 years and provide much-needed

system redundancy for its service communities in the event of a major water main break upstream.

CONSTRUCTION DETAILS

The Southern Spine Distribution Mains Project is made up of five construction contracts. See the table below for details and contract status.

Project	Status	Description	Contractor	Cost
Section 22 South	Completed June 2005	Rehabilitate 11,000 feet of water mains from Copeland Street, Quincy to The Blue Hill Reservoir	J. Fletcher Creamer & Sons, Inc	$4.08 M
Section 22, South 1A	Completed June 2005	Rehabilitate 4,400 feet of water pipeline from Copeland to Adams Street and the install Meter 334	P. Caliacco Corporation	$2.8 M
Section 107-Phase 1	Completed January 2009	Install 4,400 feet of new 48-inch pipeline from East Milton Square to Furnace Brook Parkway at the Milton/Quincy line	P. Caliacco Corporation	$5.4 M
Section 107-Phase 2	Awarded, expected complete April 2013.	Replace 9,200 feet of 48-inch diameter water mains from Dorchester Lower Mills to East Milton Square; clean and reline 4,000 feet of water main	RJV Construction Corp., Inc	$14.6 M
Section 22 North	Scheduled to begin in January 2019.	Clean and line 17,300 feet of water main	To be determined	To be determined

Updated March 31, 2011