Problem: Tallahassee’s Summerbrooke 23-foot deep lift station was due for scheduled maintenance, needing both FOGs on the surface and sand and grit on the bottom removed. Solution: USST’s patented Combination3® truck with extended boom, downhole pump, and jetter mobilized to the site, and allowed crew to remove debris from both the surface of the water and bottom of the structure without additional equipment or repositioning. USST utilizes downhole pumping (in submerged or normal flow) or vacuum (in dry or low flow) as required and is equipped to switch between the two methods in any circumstance, with minimal downtime. The USST

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Problem A shipping barge berthed at Port Arthur, TX, had a hardened heavy oil/asphalt petroleum product at the bottom of its three compartments of over 30,000 barrels of capacity (total). The client had been trying to remove the material for several months, without success. Because the product had been settled for some time, it had the consistency of rubber and could not be easily removed. Beginning in December of 2013, numerous unsuccessful attempts at cleaning the barge had been made, but nothing seemed to work. Solution In July 2014, the barge owners contacted U.S. Submergent Technologies – TX (USST) to

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Problem: Miami-Dade’s Department of Transportation and Public Works needed to restore capacity to a 110-foot section of 60-inch stormwater pipe which was experiencing reduced capacity due to a buildup of sand. Solution: To prepare for the cleaning, an inspection was performed using USST’s pipe profiling sonar unit on their combined Sonar/CCTV truck with PACP Certified operator to give the crew visibility to conditions inside 60- inch pipe. The inspection was performed through an access point in the right of way requiring a Maintenance of Traffic permit; one lane of traffic was closed in order to access the upstream manhole. USST’s

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Problem A wastewater treatment facility located in the City of Jasper, FL was experiencing increased energy costs due to reduced capacity and treatment efficiency from accumulated sand and grit in their infrastructure. More than 44-tons of sand and grit was removed from the facility. Solution The facility sought assistance from U.S. Submergent Technologies (USST) to remove the material. USST restored the capacity of the City of Jasper’s 1.2 MGD wastewater treatment plant by safely removing 44 tons of sand and grit from nine of their structures. During the debris removal process, USST’s dependable crew worked carefully to avoid damaging any

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Problem The City of Orlando, Florida s 48-inch sanitary sewer pipe near Kirkman Road, leading to the City’s Conserv II Water Reclamation Facility had lost capacity due to an accumulation of sand, grit, and material.  Challenging access issues on the project included hard-to-reach manholes located on the opposite side of Shingle Creek. Solution The facility sought assistance from U.S. Submergent Technologies (USST) in early 2018 to remove the material.  Access for equipment was challenging as the USST crew had to navigate through narrow access points to reach certain areas of the job. These difficulties could have been problematic, however, the USST crew

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Problem: A splitter box at a Central Florida utility was experiencing reduced capacity due to a significant buildup of sand and grit. Wastewater treatment facilities typically employ a splitter box to separate influent flow to various structures such as aeration basins or clarifiers. This Central Florida splitter box had a visible level of sand above the water line that needed to be cleaned, and the structure measured approximately 40-feet by 25-feet. The utility was also unable to divert flow or take the structure offline, adding another level of complexity to the project. Solution: USST crew mobilized to the site, bringing

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7,173-FEET CLEANED, 180-TONS (EST.) OF SAND REMOVED WITH NO BYPASS After experiencing a series of overflows upstream, the City of Tampa was looking to clean sand and grit out of the Bayshore Gravity Sewer while in service.  Without the ability to bypass the line or divert flow, USST performed the work under submerged conditions in the 27-inch and 30-inch pipe. Aaron Hood, one of USST’s experienced Operations Managers (read more about Aaron here!), led the USST crew on the Bayshore project, cleaning more than 7,000-feet of pipe.  “We used our Combination3® truck outfitted with extended boom, downhole pump, and jetter

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CLEANING DOWNSTREAM, NAVIGATING 90-DEGREE TURN IN 30-INCH GRAVITY SEWER USST recently completed work on a 1,200-foot section of 30-inch gravity sewer located under a major roadway which was experiencing reduced capacity due to a buildup of sand and grit.  The facility had explored a number of options but was unable to solve the issue due to safety, time, and cost concerns.  Because the line was unable to be shutdown, USST was able to solve the problem and perform sand and grit removal while in operation, under flow. USST Foreman Michael Kisling led the crew on the project, ensuring all material

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U.S. Submergent Technologies (USST) is well-known for taking on difficult — and often dirty — jobs, while making sure their clients’ production systems stay online. USST keeps entire wastewater systems up and running while cleaning system-clogging debris from lift stations, wet wells, tanks, and other structures. For other projects, USST restores important pipe infrastructure to its full capacity, while the system is still in operation. We spoke with USST Operations Manager Aaron Hood to learn a little bit more about how the GritGone Process® using the Combination3® Technology removes hard-to-reach material from wet environments better than anyone else. Aaron, how

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