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The Channel Tunnel and its Impact on the Folkestone and District Water Company
Author(s) -
MONK R. B.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
water and environment journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.437
H-Index - 37
eISSN - 1747-6593
pISSN - 1747-6585
DOI - 10.1111/j.1747-6593.1991.tb00590.x
Subject(s) - channel (broadcasting) , mainland china , water supply , channel tunnel , mainland , aquifer , engineering , civil engineering , archaeology , groundwater , geography , environmental engineering , china , geotechnical engineering , telecommunications
Folkestone and District Water Company's statutory area covers south‐east Kent, being that part of England nearest to mainland Europe. Its principal source of water is the chalk ridge known as the North Downs. The Channel Tunnel is an £8.5 billion scheme linking France to England by rail, beneath the Straits of Dover. The English portal for the project is located in what was previously the centre of the Company's distribution network, at the Cherry Garden, Folkestone. The works include three tunnels through the Lower Chalk, dropping from a ground level of 60 m AOD at the portal to about 50 m below the sea bed at the coast. This has provided a possible risk of draining scarce fresh‐water resources from the Chalk into the sea, and allowing saline intrusion to extend into the centre of the aquifer. As a major civil‐engineering project, the tunnelling and terminal works have required a temporary, but substantial, water supply. Detail design of the works proceeded as the scheme progressed, and consequently water demand could not be estimated precisely at the beginning of the contract. In excess of 30 metered supplies, varying in size from 15 mm to 250 mm in dia., have been provided, some being several kilometres from the Company's distribution system. The paper gives a brief outline of the development of a fixed cross‐channel link, and describes the interaction between the project and the Water Company, in relation to the supply of Eurotunnel's temporary and permanent water requirements, protection of the Company's sources and changes to the trunk mains system. It will also be shown how active cooperation and constant review of proposals are leading to benefits for both parties, even through the two years of drought that have afflicted the water supplies in south‐east England.