Scottish Water has turned to extremely high-pressure robotics in an obvious UK-first to take away many years of business deposits blocking a strategic sewer in South Lanarkshire.

Almost a kilometre of Rutherglen’s Eastfield trunk sewer had turn out to be clogged with concrete-like calcite and suspected hazardous supplies working below former industrial land.

All efforts to soundly take away them utilizing standard strategies similar to jetting, and diamond-tipped milling heads had proved unsuccessful.

However then Scottish Water Challenge Supervisor Marc McKinnie began chatting with individuals within the publicly owned utility’s provide chain, together with supply companion George Leslie Ltd.

He mentioned: “As a mission group we quickly understood that typical strategies wouldn’t work right here and that we would have liked to be ingenious.

“We began to ask round and one in every of our suppliers advised 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 variety 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 we’ve got been in a position to clear all the kilometre of sewer – one thing we had been struggling to realize for a number of 12 months utilizing standard strategies.”

The robotic works by directing slim, extremely high-pressure jets of water onto the arduous deposits, successfully ‘reducing’ them into smaller items.

The method is protected for the setting and ensures probably hazardous supplies from historic industrial websites may be flushed out and safely disposed of.

Robert Emans, Operations Supervisor at Enviro-Clear (Scotland) Ltd mentioned: “We’re excited to have been in a position to assist Scottish Water to find an progressive method to the issue and efficiently demonstrating the potential of the Extremely Excessive-Stress Robotic Cutter.

“It truly is a recreation changer for us, permitting better 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 reducing.

“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 leading edge know-how, to offer the most secure options doable, conserving 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 very 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, we’ve got achieved an awesome outcome. This exhibits how working collectively we are able to ship nice worth for our prospects and advantages to the setting, serving to Scottish Water obtain its intention of delivering web zero emissions by 2040 and past.”

A video of the cutter in motion may be considered right here.