More than half of New York’s drinking water is conveyed to the city via the Rondout-West Branch Tunnel of the Delaware Aqueduct – a 71 kilometre-long tunnel which supplies up to 37 m³ of drinking water per second via a natural incline from Ulster County located 160 km away. Measuring over four metres in diameter, construction of the tunnel was completed in 1944. As a result of geological conditions, the tunnel was losing up to 130 million litres of drinking water a day through leaks under the Hudson River.

UPA submersible borehole pumps

Valve for water extraction: SISTO-16TWA

To enable the tunnel to be pumped empty for repairs as quickly as possible, KSB supplied the most powerful single-entry submersible borehole pumps that our company has ever produced. Each of the 5 units is driven by a 2,000 kW, 4-pole electric motor operating at a voltage of 4,160 volts. The output of each pump is around 2,000 cubic metres an hour at a maximum rated head of 320 metres. In accordance with the customer’s specifications, the components which come into contact with the fluid handled on selected pump sets are made of corrosion-resistant stainless steel. A special submersible connector system was used for the cable connections.