ExpanDrive

The Deer Island Waste Water Treatment Plant is the second largest sewage treatment plant in the US. It was built in the 90s as part of a $4 billion effort to clean up Boston Harbor. The treated water is pumped through a 9.5 mile long tunnel under the Atlantic ocean, and diffused away from shore through 55 vents space out over the last mile.

There’s an amazing story in the Boston Globe Magazine this weekend about the final steps in building the tunnel. After construction was completed the lighting and ventilation were taken out of the tunnel. A team then had to drive 9 miles down the unlighted, oxygen-less tunnel, and remove backup safety plugs from each of the 55 vents. It’s a terrifying lesson about how even a billion dollar project can paint itself into a corner.

PS: During Jeff’s bachelor party last weekend I made fun of him for claiming that the giant egg shaped containers on Deer Island were for water treatment, when they obviously contained some kind of pressurized gas. In fact, he was right and I was wrong. The 150 ft tall containers are sludge digesters.