Tallinn has 50 kilometers of walkable underground pipes
Tallinna Vesi development manager Marti Vaksmann says that there are 3,000 kilometers of pipelines beneath Tallinn, including 50 kilometers of large pipes where a person can walk. He notes that being inside a wastewater collector is not the most pleasant experience, but it is part of the job.
Construction has been underway all summer at the Hipodroom intersection in Tallinn, and the reason for the repairs lies underground.
"We're going about four meters deep here, but in Tallinn some places reach depths of up to 30 meters," said Vaksmann, development manager for water and sewerage assets at Tallinna Vesi. "We've measured that Tallinn has 3,000 kilometers of pipelines, and about 50 kilometers of those are large enough for us to walk through."
The existing pipes were installed nearly a century ago, when Tallinn still used a combined sewer system, with stormwater and wastewater flowing through the same pipe. "Today we're building a separate stormwater pipeline right under the Hipodroom intersection. We're planning for the next 50 years, assuming rainfall may become more intense, so we won't need to rebuild this pipe again. If it seems to passersby that not much construction is happening at Hipodroom site, that's because most of it is underground," Vaksmann said.
Vaksmann said he likes pipes and doesn't feel afraid walking inside them. "Many people don't like tight spaces, but that's our job. Right now we're in a stormwater collector, but there are also wastewater collectors, and walking in those is not the most pleasant — but someone has to do it."
"In addition to the large pipelines, there's also a water pipe here, a sewer pipe, heating pipelines, and various cables under the sidewalks. Whenever possible, we shift pipelines under the sidewalk," Vaksmann explained. "There are no buildings directly above us."
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Editor: Annika Remmel, Argo Ideon
Source: ERR interview by Jüri Muttika
