Engineers thread 1.1km water pipeline underneath Brisbane River

Just 12 hours was all engineers had to lay more than a kilometre of polyethylene pipe underneath the Brisbane River. Any longer than that and they risked it getting stuck.

The $20 million pipeline will be connected to Brisbane’s drinking supply, designed to deliver clean water for the next 100 years.

After a month boring the tunnel, and three weeks welding each piece of the pipe together, engineers yesterday began the difficult job of threading the pipe from one side of the river to the other, sometimes up to 23 metres below the ground.

The 200-tonne pipe entered the tunnel in Murrarrie and, with just one hour to spare, emerged in Pinkenba.

According to Sally Prosser from Urban Utilities, the pipe will carry up to 35 megalitres a day; the equivalent of 14 Olympic swimming pools.