Planned wet well emptying cuts costs and boosts sustainability

Lanes jetting and suction SQU

Drainage and utility specialist Lanes Group plc is working with commercial customers to minimise the cost of the maintenance of vital wastewater assets.

By coordinating service delivery with vital work done by other specialists, Lanes is also helping to minimise the risk of equipment malfunctions and boosting customer sustainability.

In one example, a Lanes jet vac tanker team carried out the planned emptying of a sewage pump station wet well in the basement of a large city centre restaurant at 2am in the morning.

Lanes worked on the project with wastewater pumping equipment specialist H2O Flowtech, which had been tasked with inspecting and maintaining the wet well pumps.

Ian Clapham, Area Development Manager for Lanes in Manchester, said: “H2O Flowtech was able to use the pumps to draw down the water in the wet well, so the bulk of what we removed was sludge.

“That meant we only had to dispose of five tonnes of waste instead of up to 20 tonnes. That represents a big saving for the customer and a significant boost for the task’s sustainability.”

The wet well could only be reached using over 100 metres of suction and jetting hose, so Lanes’ ability to respond to a planned maintenance project in the early hours of the morning was crucial.

Lanes has worked with H2O Flowtech, in a similar way, on multiple projects where combining the expertise of both companies has proved to be a very effective way to add value for the customer. They include:

  • Emptying a wet well of nine tonnes of wastewater, including several tonnes of grease and fat at a major shopping centre, to allow the pumps to be inspected.
  • Installing a package pump station to the foul and surface water drainage system of a large hotel to ensure it could cope with water flows at periods of peak demand.
  • Emptying and cleaning a 9,000-litre oil and petrol interceptor serving the car park at the Imperial War Museum North, in Manchester, to allow H2O Flowtech engineers to carry out maintenance checks on its pumps.

H2O Flowtech Managing Director Mark Fielding said: “Our whole approach is to carry out pump and wastewater system planned and reactive work in a way that controls costs, uses least energy and causes least disruption while proving a quality solution for our customers

“Working with Lanes, a company with the same ethos, ensures we always have the specialist skills and assets to hand that complement ours, and gets the job done. In most cases, customers will hardly know we’ve attended, and that’s how it should be.”

Lanes’ network of 22 depots – it has three that can respond quickly to support wastewater pump specialists in the North West alone – ensures consistently high-quality drainage vehicles and equipment, operated by trained and qualified teams, are available anywhere in the UK.

Ian Clapham said: “Many commercial organisations have very substantial wastewater assets. Our capability, developed to support large utility clients, underpins our ability to deliver the services they need, often in partnership with excellent contractors like H2O Flowtech.”

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