Gippsland Water engineers recently conducted the major clean out of a long section of main sewer in Morwell (VIC), removing more than 15 tonnes of grit, rocks, railway sleepers and railway spikes in the process.
Manager of Field Operations Nic Moss says that in addition to removing these materials the operation allowed Gippsland Water trial new technology for the task.
“We used a new sewer cleaning truck equipped with water recycling technology which in effect allowed us to do the task at hand with a much smaller amount of water.”
The sewer line operation required an extra level of planning as it was on a railway reserve meaning permits and approval were required from Victrack before works could commence.
“The new equipment on trial recycles sewer water which is then used in the pipe to dislodge the silt,” said Nic.
“While very effective, it also meant we weren’t continually refilling using fresh drinking water for the job and did the operation much more efficiently.”
The five day operation concluded with success on a number of fronts. Not only was there a large amount of debris removed from the mains, no customers were affected by the works, and significantly, no odour was created for residents.
“Cleaning out a sewer main may not sound very glamorous,” said Nic. “But like cleaning a bathroom at home, when it’s done, it looks clean and everything has been put back in its place, you can take a certain amount of pride.”
“The guys on this job worked well. The technology was great and the outcome for customers is a sewer main which should be free of major disruptions for many years.”
