Scottish Water has turned to extremely high-pressure robotics in an obvious UK-first to take away many years of commercial deposits blocking a strategic sewer in South Lanarkshire.
Practically a kilometre of Rutherglen’s Eastfield trunk sewer had turn into clogged with concrete-like calcite and suspected hazardous supplies operating beneath former industrial land.
All efforts to soundly take away them utilizing typical strategies equivalent to jetting, and diamond-tipped milling heads had proved unsuccessful.
However then Scottish Water Undertaking Supervisor Marc McKinnie began chatting with individuals within the publicly owned utility’s provide chain, together with supply accomplice George Leslie Ltd.
He stated: “As a mission group we quickly understood that typical strategies wouldn’t work right here and that we would have liked to be creative.
“We began to ask round and one in every of our suppliers informed us a couple of new robotic cutter in the marketplace in Germany able to working at 40,000 pounds-per-square-inch with excellent precision.
“That is the primary of its form for use within the UK and one in every of solely three worldwide, and it has made all of the distinction.
“In simply three months now we have been capable of clear the complete kilometre of sewer – one thing we had been struggling to realize for a number of yr utilizing typical strategies.”
The robotic works by directing slim, extremely high-pressure jets of water onto the onerous deposits, successfully ‘slicing’ them into smaller items.
The method is secure for the surroundings and ensures doubtlessly hazardous supplies from historic industrial websites will be flushed out and safely disposed of.
Robert Emans, Operations Supervisor at Enviro-Clear (Scotland) Ltd stated: “We’re excited to have been capable of assist Scottish Water find an progressive method to the issue and efficiently demonstrating the aptitude of the Extremely Excessive-Strain Robotic Cutter.
“It truly is a sport changer for us, permitting higher versatility in tackling cussed blockages in sewers from 10cm to a metre large, coupled with fixed CCTV monitoring permitting our group to make sure precision slicing.
“It additionally considerably reduces time on-site, cuts prices and lowers our carbon footprint offering a greener answer.
“Enviro-Clear continues to put money into innovative know-how, to offer the most secure options potential, maintaining us on the forefront of the waste water trade.”
Marc McKinnie added: ““It was starting to seem like the one choice can be to dig up and exchange the sewer – which might have been disruptive and intensely costly – so it was thrilling to be part of pioneering new applied sciences to handle difficult initiatives.
“Due to the inspiration and enthusiasm of our supply companions, now we have achieved an ideal consequence. This reveals how working collectively we are able to ship nice worth for our prospects and advantages to the surroundings, serving to Scottish Water obtain its purpose of delivering internet zero emissions by 2040 and past.”
A video of the cutter in motion will be seen right here.
