The Advantage of Hydro Excavation

The word excavation is generally used when referring to archaeology. It is defined as the exposure, processing and recording of archaeological remains. Archaeological excavation is a time consuming process which can often take several years.

In the late 1800s gold rushers from California developed a controlled excavation practice in order to mine gold. This included the use of use steam pump-pressurized water to erode land masses, and then screen the slurry to capture the gold. This was quite an unsafe practice and would often lead to many fatalities.

With development in technology, controlled excavations can now be performed by a much safer and faster process called hydro excavation. The process of removing or moving soil with pressurized water is known as hydro excavation and the equipment used for this are known as hydro excavators.

Hydro excavators are equipped with water heaters, debris tank and a vacuum system. These trucks are designed specifically to reach fragile and critical underground structures. The process involves a combination of high pressured water in low streams along with an air vacuum in order to excavate soil at a controlled rate. While the high pressured water breaks the soil, the vacuum lifts the slurry from the excavation area and a debris pipe carries this to the debris tank.

The benefits of this process are:

• Less invasive in nature when compared to other traditional methods of excavating
• Since it does not involve any chemicals, this process is environment friendly
• Higher precision, leading to lesser disposal of materials and accordingly less restoration
• Uses less manpower when compared to conventional digging methods
• Due to the debris storage tank, dirt is not allowed to gather on the road, keeping the surrounding area clean. Further, it leads to minimal disruption in traffic and inconvenience to public in terms of accidental damages to power or electrical lines

Applications

Plumbing

Since most sewers and pipelines are underground, this process is ideal for the plumbing industry. By digging through the soil without damaging the existing underground lines, this ensures that the work is completed faster.

Construction

Any good construction needs a solid foundation. For this, the ground needs to be properly excavated. Due to the large areas of these grounds, traditional methods can take a long time. A hydro excavator gets the job done much faster with lesser cost and manpower.

Landscaping

The process of landscaping involves plants and trees to be arranged in specific parts in order to make the area look beautiful. The precision with which a hydro excavator works ensures that the holes are made accurately and there is less restoration work.