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News Centre > Monday 14 November 2016

St George's Esplanade southbound carriageway to close for vital CSO maintenance work

CSO maintenance

Temporary traffic lights will be in place for one week from Wednesday (16 November) on the southbound carriageway of St George's Esplanade to enable the vital cleaning and surveying of the La Piette combined sewer outfall (CSO) pipe.

Mark Walker, capital delivery manager at Guernsey Water, said:  "I appreciate the timing of this closure is by no means ideal, particularly after there has already been traffic disruption over the past few weeks due to other work in the near vicinity.  However, next week's spring tides, combined with a dry weather forecast, present us with favourable conditions to conduct this vital work.

"With the temporary lights in place, which will be manually operated during peak traffic periods, we hope to manage the traffic and minimize commuter delays wherever possible."

The La Piette outfall pipe is almost 350m long and extends from the sea wall opposite Piette Road on St George's Esplanade to the low water mark in Belle Greve Bay.  It serves as a CSO discharge outfall, which activates to prevent localised flooding when the foul water sewer on land reaches unacceptably high levels and becomes overloaded.  This CSO is only activated when there has been a lot of rain.

The pipe, some 600m in diameter, is over 166 years old, its original section built with an inner brick lining surrounded by granite masonry.  Originally only 150m in length, it was extended by approximately 200m with a cast iron pipe in around1890 but since then has not undergone any significant maintenance.

During the work Guernsey Water's engineers will be cleaning the length of the pipe with specialist jetting equipment, as well as conducting a detailed survey using CCTV cameras.

"Surveys earlier in the year highlighted restrictions in the pipe's flow caused by debris either from material that has come down the pipe, fallen from its structure or been deposited in the pipe during years of the daily rise and fall of the tide.  Its ability to discharge foul water is now heavily restricted and affecting its optimum performance during heavy rainfall.  If we ignore this, there is a risk of serious localised flooding.

"The surveys also identified the pipe's poor state of repair.  The work our engineers will undertake will enable us to make a full assessment of its condition and provide us with recommendations on its repair," said Mr Walker.

In addition Guernsey Water will begin some preliminary work on the sewer running along Le Grand Bouet, starting on 21 November, as part of its ongoing sewer renovation programme.  During this time the road will be closed to all traffic and bus routes 51 and 52 will be affected; diversion routes will be set up directing traffic to Le Bouet, Admiral Park and Les Banques in either direction.

"This is advanced preliminary work involving trial excavations to accurately locate services and understand the ground conditions," said Mr Walker.

"As a result of these preliminary findings major work will take place in 2017 on the major sewer beneath the road to not only rehabilitate its structure but extend its life for several decades."

For further information on any aspect of these projects contact Mark Walker on 239500 or via the Guernsey Water e-mail address at customer.service@water.gg marking your query for Mr Walker's attention.

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