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.
Almost a kilometre of Rutherglen’s Eastfield trunk sewer had turn into clogged with concrete-like calcite and suspected hazardous supplies operating below former industrial land.
All efforts to soundly take away them utilizing standard strategies akin to jetting, and diamond-tipped milling heads had proved unsuccessful.
However then Scottish Water Mission Supervisor Marc McKinnie began chatting with folks within the publicly owned utility’s provide chain, together with supply companion George Leslie Ltd.
He stated: “As a venture workforce we quickly understood that typical strategies wouldn’t work right here and that we wanted to be ingenious.
“We began to ask round and considered one of our suppliers instructed us a few 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 considered one of solely three worldwide, and it has made all of the distinction.
“In simply three months we’ve got been capable of clear the whole kilometre of sewer – one thing we had been struggling to attain for a number of yr utilizing standard strategies.”
The robotic works by directing slender, extremely high-pressure jets of water onto the arduous deposits, successfully ‘chopping’ them into smaller items.
The approach is protected for the setting and ensures doubtlessly hazardous supplies from historic industrial websites might 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 help Scottish Water find an progressive method to the issue and efficiently demonstrating the aptitude of the Extremely Excessive-Stress Robotic Cutter.
“It truly is a recreation changer for us, permitting higher versatility in tackling cussed blockages in sewers from 10cm to a metre extensive, coupled with fixed CCTV monitoring permitting our workforce to make sure precision chopping.
“It additionally considerably reduces time on-site, cuts prices and lowers our carbon footprint offering a greener answer.
“Enviro-Clear continues to spend money on innovative know-how, to supply the most secure options potential, maintaining us on the forefront of the waste water business.”
Marc McKinnie added: ““It was starting to appear like the one possibility can be to dig up and exchange the sewer – which might have been disruptive and very costly – so it was thrilling to be part of pioneering new applied sciences to handle difficult tasks.
“Because of the inspiration and enthusiasm of our supply companions, we’ve got achieved an excellent outcome. This reveals how working collectively we will ship nice worth for our clients and advantages to the setting, serving to Scottish Water obtain its purpose of delivering internet zero emissions by 2040 and past.”
A video of the cutter in motion might be seen right here.
