LUVINATE - VARESE WATER BACKBONE
Information
Client:
Lereti S.p.A.
Project:
Construction of water lifting backbone from the Luvinate power plant in Varese to the Montello reservoir in Varese
Services: technical-economic feasibility design, final design, executive design, construction management and safety coordination
Location: Province of Varese
Status: in progress
Year: 2021 - in progress
J+S S.p.A, in collaboration with Asola Studio Srl, has been appointed to follow all phases of design, construction management and safety coordination during design and execution of the new waterworks backbone that will connect the Luvinate lift station to the Montello reservoirs in Varese.
The intervention will affect the municipalities of Luvinate, Casciago and Varese, for a total of about 5 km of network. The planned backbone will carry very important carriers: up to even 150 l/s in the future forecast. The territory, typically pre-Alpine, is characterized by important geodetic gradients to be overcome in order to serve the users (about 24,000 equivalent inhabitants). The new backbone will mainly have the function of water adduction to the Montello reservoirs in Varese, unlike the existing backbone, which performs the dual function of adduction and distribution. This implies, in general, that some points of the existing network are characterized by problems related to pressures, high in some places, low in others. In particular, high pressures on existing networks that were laid several decades ago, as in this case, can cause major water losses.
The intervention is therefore part of a broader plan to improve the efficiency of the aqueduct network pursued by the operator, Lereti S.p.A., with the objectives of optimizing the pressure regime and reducing network losses.
The basis of the design is the desire to separate the network's adduction and distribution systems; doing so will result in major improvements in the efficiency and management of the network.
In fact, the planned backbone will be laid mainly alongside the existing backbone (in some sections laid before the 1950s) to allow simultaneous control of it during the laying phases. In addition, safety bypasses will be built connecting the new and the old pipeline, ensuring redundancy in the network and, consequently, less inconvenience to the served population in case of maintenance work. The existing backbone will be kept in operation for the purpose of distributing water coming from the Montello reservoirs in Varese, which will be loaded by the new backbone in the future.
