its way to quenching the thirsts of Vancouverites.

The wildest part of that ride will
be back in operation neat week
when the $2.7 ‘million project to
sepair the cight-foot diameter
horth shaft section of the reser-
voir’s water main will be com-
picted.

In anticipation of that comple-
dion, Greater Vancouver Regional
District engineers organized a
inedia tour Wednesday of the shaft
and the, massive First, Narrows
water tunneh +

Permanent repair of the north |

shaft, which exploded Dee. 11,
1986 at the south foot of Capilano
Road, began in December 1987’
and involved installation of” a
seven-foot diameter, five-eighths-
inch thick welded ‘steel sleeve down
its 400-foot depth. ,

The complete overhaul was
‘planned following the discovery of
more cracks down the shaft during
initial emergency repairs to its ex-’
ploded section. The main had also
failed in 1982.

‘n order to bring the shaft up to
modern earthquake design stan-
dards, concrete grouting has now
been injected in the six-inch an-
nular space between the new sleeve
and the old shaft around its bot-
tom 280 feet. The upper portion
will be filled with water to allow
for movement of the liner against
the old shaft.

Following initial re-routing of
Capilano water into the main, the
system will be flushed with a
sterilizing mixture of water and
sodium hypochlorite, which will
then'be released into Burrard Inlet.

Since closure of the water tunnel
fast November, water. from the
Capilano system has been diverted
to Vancouver via the three water
pipes beneath Burrard Inlet just to

the east of the Second Narrows .

Bridge.

On Wednesday afternoon,
reporters and cameramen, lashed
inside three-foot diameter . steel
cage elevators,. were lowered the
equivalent of 40 storeys into the
shaft’s dank blackness to inspect

the repair work and to tour the |

connecting water tunnel.

Though sense of the shaft’s
tremendous depth was. lost in its/
tight seven-foot diameter | and!
without any normal ‘visual refer-!
ence points, a quick’ glance up at
the seyen-foot circle of daylight
that had shrunk to basketball size

I

By TIMOTHY RENSHAW
: | News Reporter

by the time the elevator reached
bottom provided adequate indica
tion, /

The water tunnel itself wats
completed | in duly 1933, after 98
months’ ebnstruction and an ap-
proximate S$) million cast,

i runs (through bedrock 3,100
feet from) the North Share to»
Stanley Park, and cerains one ot
the few |such water tunnels in,
North America,

GVRD Water administrator John
Morse safd the tunanel’s construc. +
tion was fa major engineering feat
in the 1930s *tand would be a ma- '
jor feat of engineering in 1987 or
1988."*

The concrete and steel tunnel:
handles /water pressures of up toi
200 pounds per square inch and,-in
full operation, delivers in excess of
150 million gallons daily to the.
Greater Vancouver. area. Water
from the Capilano reservoir roars
down jthe 400-foot north. shaft,
along jthe. 3,100-foot tunnel then
back jup the system's ~400-foot
south shaft,

Though pipelines began connec-
ting Vancouver to Capilano. River
water! as early as 1886 when. the
first one was laid along Burrard
Inlet jocean floor, Morse said the
subterranean tunnel was built
because pipelines were vulnerable
to rupture from First Narrows ship
traffic.

The tunnel’s construction was
also made possible by the existence
of the bedrock below the narrows.

But for all that, the tunnel is a
cold, dark, wet place to be, its
smooth, slick surface decorated
only with an occasional outcropp-
ing ‘of saltcake and its silence
broken only by the overhead rum-
ble of the First Narrows and the
ominous drip of water:

A GVRD inspection of the tun-
nel, done in conjunction with the
shaft’ s overhaul, found it to be in
good shape.

Morse said engineers ‘‘could see
no end to the life’? of the tunnel.

“It. was well made by good
craftsmen in 1933,’’. Morse said.
“The same kind of craftsmanship
we've; put. into repairing the

_shaft.”’

It remains a good place for /|
water, not for people..

3+ beiday, Agel 22, (9X8. | North Stace Noows

ates

Emedia Cet) await their turn Wednesdas for a 40-stores descent into the north shaft of she
Capilano water main, white Gaboser News reporter Timothy Renshaw talks to GVRD water administrator Join
Morse in the dark chill of the S5-sear-old birst Narrows water tunnel. The (our of the $2.7 million project ta

eepair the main ms aryganized by Greater ancnnet Regional District engineers, \

_ Capilano water tunnel repairs give unique
chance to reach Vancouver underground

AN EERIE mote’s s-eye view of the ascending three- foot diameter crane-operated elevator used to lower inedia .
and GYRD engineers down the: recently overhauled nort : halt, af the The.
eight-foot diameter shaft has been lined with a steel’ platin \

art Shore Now. . e 1B

Ped

‘Doug Collins... 2... aus
/ Editorial Page, we 8
/ Home & Garden. + 21

‘Friday, sunny ‘with high ‘n ‘near:
19. Saturday, mostly’ cloudy
“with a ‘few: shows. High
near 15*C.*

Second Class Registrat

aD