The Forsyth County (Ga.) Water & Sewer Department has easements in swampy terrain that are inaccessible to its combination vacuum truck from Vac-Con Inc. or its trailer-mounted waterjetter from US Jetting. Low-lying areas often hold a foot or more of water and can be thousands of feet from a paved surface.
The greatest fear for field operations supervisor Robert Coffman was that a problem would develop on an easement with no way to reach it. When Nick Woodhead at US Jetting heard of Coffman’s concern, he showed him a jetting system the company had designed and mounted on an amphibious all-terrain vehicle (ATV).
Tires and tracks
Made by Ontario Drive & Gear Ltd. in New Hamburg, Ontario, the Argo 8x8 Avenger ATV came with 25-inch Rawhide III tires. Knowing how poorly tires fare in deep mud, Coffman ordered rubber tracks, too.
“We deflate the eight tires halfway, pull the track around one set, lock it in place with the pin, and inflate the tires,” says Coffman. “The tracks go through and over anything, but driving on concrete roads tears them up. We try not to do that too often.”
Limited by weight and size — too heavy and it sinks, too large and it is difficult to maneuver — US Jetting mounted a 150-gallon polyethylene water tank on a four-wheel trailer pulled by the ATV. The jetting system has a reel with 300 feet of 5/8-inch hose and a pump that delivers 3,000 psi/12 gpm. The pump also has three filters, enabling crews to draw water from any river, pond or lake.
Passing the test
When the unit arrived in April, Coffman sent it to one of the county’s worst easements to test its capabilities, taking it through dense mud and even floating it in water deeper than three feet. The ATV, which the crew quickly named Swamp Buggy, enabled them to check manholes without getting wet.
At one point, they found a dense blockage of paper and fat causing a backup. “They drew water from a creek, filled the tank, jetted the blockage, and made sure it traveled down to where they could pick it up with the vacuum truck,” says Coffman. “The unit paid for itself that day by enabling us to take care of a situation before it became a big problem.” The department’s active search for developing problems has reduced sanitary sewer overflows from 13 last year to three in 2007.
“We haven’t had to use the Swamp Buggy a lot, but when crews go to an easement, they take it along,” says Coffman.
