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The pollution of Boston Harbor was more than a
century in the making, and this long period of controversy and
temporary solutions has drawn to a close with the completion of the
new Deer Island primary and secondary treatment facilities. The
entire complex can process 1.3 billion gallons of sewage daily, and
is one of the largest plants of its type in the United States.
During peak construction periods, almost 3000 construction workers,
engineers, and support staff came to the island each day.The working
schedule for the project was set in 1986, almost three years before
the first bids went out and site preparation work actually began.The
project was massive - by any measure. The Massachusetts Water
Resources Authority (MWRA) estimates that when complete, more than
$3.4 billion will have been spent on the project, which is far below
the $6.1 billion originally projected. Rodney Hunt Company supplied
all but a very few of the hundreds of gates used to regulate the
flow of wastewater and effluent from one facility to another. Over
900 Rodney Hunt cast iron, bronze-mounted sluice gates, with
accompanying cast Ni-Resist iron wall thimbles were installed.
Rodney Hunt Company also supplied over 140 fabricated gates, from
small fabricated slide gates to large crest gates, roller gates, and
bulkheads. Several Rodney Hunt hydraulic systems were also included
with these gate orders, for both gate operation, and the operation
of valves furnished by other manufacturers.
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