Abu Dhabi's STEP into the Future: The Strategic Tunnel Enhancement Program

The Emirate of Abu Dhabi has experience tremendous growth since the mid-1970's resulting in significant overloading of its existing sewerage system. Master planning determined that the best long-term wastewater collection and conveyance solution was construction of a deep tunnel sewer system to relief the existing system and to provide added capacity to accommodate further growth. Implementation of this massive project faced numerous challenges including component sizing, system hydraulics, the potential for sedimentation in the deep tunnel sewer and dealing with the potential to generate offensive odors, which plagued the existing sewerage system. Each of these issues was addressed by the combined owner and consultant program management team. This paper focuses on how each of these issues was addressed.