Incatema completes construction of the working shaft for the marine outfall of Cambérène (Dakar, Senegal)

20 January, 2022

Incatema has finished executing the working shaft that will serve to connect the land and sea parts of the future marine outfall of Cambérène, district of Dakar city (Senegal). The shaft, with a rectangular shape, has dimensions of 84 square metres and is 9 metres deep. The shaft will be used to introduce the boring machine that will execute the micro-tunnel with a length of 1,200 metres and diameter of 2.2 metres, which will serve to evacuate into the sea water treated at the local waste water treatment plant (WWTP), whose refurbishment and extension is also being carried out by Incatema.

The contract to build Cambérène’s marine outfall forms part of the Senegalese government’s programme to decontaminate the North of Dakar, a city that presents high levels of pollution with a huge impact on the health of the local population and fishing resources.

Two inter-related projects that promote Sustainable Development Goal Number 6

The construction project for Cambérène’s marine outfall, which we previously reported on here, is a continuation of the project to remodelling and enlargement the WWTP of the district mentioned above, an installation that will service more than 1,685,000 inhabitants, with an average treatment capacity of 92,000 cubic metres per day, capable of withstanding treatment peaks of up to 101,000 cubic metres daily.

The two projects are interrelated: the effluents expelled into the sea through the marine outfall are previously treated at the WWTP with the latest water treatment systems. Once in the sea, marine currents and natural conditions of temperature, salinity, pressure and ultraviolet radiation favour a chemical, physical and biological process that purifies the wastewater thereby minimising its environmental impact.

According to Fernando Díaz, Incatema’s Director of Infrastructures, “both projects go hand in hand, on one side contributing to decontaminate Senegal’s capital city, and on the other achieving one of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, in this case number six, by promoting the right of access to clean water and sanitation in developing countries”.