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It would be an engineering miracle if the Hope Canal is finished by year end

Dec 23, 2014 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,
I refer to an article in your paper dated December 21, 2014, with regard to the Hope Canal, and to state from what I observed after a visit to the site just over a week ago, a lot of work is yet to be completed.
It would be an engineering miracle if the project is finished by year end. The outfall has to be excavated, sea defences built on both sides of the wing walls, backfilling has to be completed, sluice doors to be installed and electrical operation of the sluice doors etc., are among a number of other aspects yet to be completed.
I also feel the Government and its Consultants have now brought the problems of the East Demerara Water Conservancy out to public area. In my opinion, having designed and built numerous sluices, drainage works and sea defences throughout the coastlands, there is a strong possibility of a breach occurring between the wing walls of the sluice and the tie-in to the existing conservancy dam.
I also feel uplift forces due to a hydraulic head are also possible to act on the sluice floor causing displacement at certain times of the year. Also the timber piles are designed to support vertical loads not uplift forces on the sluice. It should also be noted that a sluice built in Boeraserie during the 1950s, under similar soil conditions, floated away shortly after construction.
I also feel the earth dam, 12 to 16 feet high, built on a pegasse foundation, is susceptible to failure and slips. I understand there is already a failure in the dam – some 200 feet of slippage. Placing geotextile material under the dam to strengthen the pegasse foundation is bogus engineering.
Lastly, in my opinion this entire project is a waste of money. To drain the conservancy all you have to do is remove the vegetation, mount a dragline on a pontoon, and design and excavate a hydraulic drainage path towards the Land of Canaan Sluice. This is how the conservancy was drained for many years.
M. Alli

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