“The Northwest is getting thirstier and thirstier.” – A project of superlatives secures the water supply

Relevance of the water supply

To secure the water supply for the people in the region, the Oldenburg-East Frisian Water Association (OOWV) is building a new drinking water transport pipeline. Sections are being laid trenchlessly using the horizontal directional drilling method under several roads and bodies of water to minimize the impact on people and nature – for this purpose, the egeplast NoDig SLM^® 3.0 protective layer pipe system was used.

Almost 40,000 meters long, around 60 million euros in costs, more than 730 days of construction: The Oldenburgisch-Ostfriesische Wasserverband (OOWV) is tackling a project that is rarely seen on this scale in Germany in the water supply sector. An additional transport pipeline is intended to permanently secure the public water supply for people in the region and improve the distribution of water volumes in the existing supply network.

Project planning

The transport line will connect the waterworks in Sandelermöns with the pumped storage power plant in Diekmannshausen. On its way there, it crosses the districts of Friesland, Wittmund, and Wesermarsch. The start of construction was preceded by several years of planning, which took into account the protection of animals and plants, among other things. The engineering firm Lindschulte from Nordhorn took over the planning and relied on the expertise of egeplast field service and application technology throughout the entire planning phase.

Project Implementation

The first construction phase comprises approx. 16 kilometers of egelen pipe in the 710 mm dimension. Of this, approximately two kilometers are being implemented as a NoDig SLM^® 3.0 protective layer pipe system and installed using the HDD horizontal directional drilling method. This method is used, for example, to preserve historic hedgerows along the route or to cross under roads and bodies of water.

ARGE PPS Pipeline Systems GmbH from Quakenbrück and RN Rohrleitungsbau Niederrhein GmbH from Krefeld were commissioned with the first construction phase. The handling of deliveries for a fast and uninterrupted construction process takes place in close coordination between the project management of ARGE and egeplast. This cooperation enables just-in-time production and freight-optimized deliveries to the correct construction site on the major construction site, as well as optimal utilization of the limited storage capacities on site. The next two construction phases will seamlessly follow the first construction phase. The completion and commissioning of the entire line is scheduled for 2024.