Mont Cuet tip prepares to be flooded
Friday 20th March 2009, 1:00PM GMT.
THE next stage in the project to flood Mont Cuet is under way.
Contractors have started to lay the pipes that will connect Vale Pond and Vale Marais with the Torrey Canyon quarry and Mont Cuet. Water will then be pumped into Mont Cuet in a bid to extinguish the hotspot deep within the site.
The senior manager technical for States Works, Nick Nicolle, said there will be about 15 people working to get the plumbing organised.
‘It’s quite a large task, but we have liaised with residents and other stakeholders in the area and so are not anticipating any problems,’ he said.
‘Everything is going to plan so far and we are actually slightly ahead of schedule.’
The pipe-laying is expected to take two weeks and should not cause excessive disruption.
However, Chouet Road will be shut this Sunday and next while these sections of pipe are installed.
The recycling centre and public green waste site on Chouet headland will also be shut on these days.
Water will start to be injected into the site on 14 April and will continue to do so for about two weeks. This will fill up three-quarters of the landfill with water.
According to Public Services minister Deputy Bernard Flouquet, the removal of 10 million gallons of water from Vale Pond and Vale Marais should not cause any environmental damage.
‘The fresh water will come from overflow pumps on these sites, which under normal circumstances would be discharged out to sea,’ he said.
‘We are instead sending it to Mont Cuet to be used to extinguish the hotspot.’
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One thing that puzzles me with the above information from BF is the comment:
The fresh water will come from overflow pumps on these sites, which under normal circumstances would be discharged out to sea,’ he said.
‘We are instead sending it to Mont Cuet to be used to extinguish the hotspot.’
Why the need to close roads and all the other general chaos that Islanders will have to endure whilst this is taking place.
If the states are so hell bent on using fresh water for a rubbish tip then why not simply dig a temporary sump and pump it from its discharge point on the seaward side?
There appears to be a complex solution to a simple problem. Is anybody going to give a decent explanation as to why the engineers are not simply using sea water which is a few hundred metres away?
Maybe it is time that BF started to actually acknowledge the people who pay his wages and also those that provide the cash that most of the states are only too happy to squander at their leisure.
I have a strong feeling there is a hidden agenda going on with this experiment. Has the Vale pond site been earmarked for the new waste to energy plant that nobody wants apart from the states.
It is in the perfect location with very good access and the savings on ground works would be a small fortune.
I hope my suspicions are not going to get any politicians brains ticking.
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Today’s letter in the GP explained that seawater had the potential of giving off noxious fumes. Hydro…..something or other sulphide?
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Paul
You’ve managed to jump in with all guns blazing again without knowing the facts…probably because it gives you another feeble excuse to attack Deputy Flouquet.
The pipes from the Vale Pond pumping station ARE running along the pathway on the beach side of road.
L’Ancresse road had to be closed for part of a day while they dug a trench to bury the pipe leading from the Marais site.
The alternative would have been sky hooks I suppose
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Ray
No the alternative could have been an A frame actually. that is if you wish to be set on your solution!
A much easier way forward would have been to dig a temporary sump at the outlet site where it enters into the sea and using a mobile pump to deliver the water to the tip.
However, I have no doubts that sea water would have been as effective with no risks involved whatsoever.
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