Five Ways Hyrdrovac Excavation Helps To Protect The Environment

Hydrovac excavation is a precise form of excavation that uses pressurized water to create holes in the ground. As the water turns the surrounding soil to sludge, a vacuum carefully and efficiently extracts the sludge. This method is considered one of the safest, most effective methods for excavation around utility lines, and it is more environmentally friendly than many other excavation methods. Here is why:

1. Hydrovac helps you accomplish more faster

When you use hydrovac excavation to reveal utility lines before drilling or doing other work, it can massively speed up the process, especially when compared to air vac excavation. For example, when one team made the switch from air to hydrovac utility line detection, they were able to lay two times more conduit than usual on the first day of working with the hydrovac and over four times as much as usual on the second day.

When you work faster, it lowers your expenses and labor costs, but it also helps to reduce the amount of fuel you need for your machines, ultimately helping the environment.

2. Hydrovac does not put contaminants or debris into waterways

When you use hydrovac excavation, you are using simple, basic, clean water to move dirt and soil out of the way. Because of this, you don't have to worry about using harsh chemicals and having them leach into nearby waterways. Similarly, because you vacuum up all of the silt and debris created through hydrovac excavation immediately, you don't have to worry about those particles getting into waterways or sewage systems.

3. Hydrovac can also benefit air and land

The hydrovac process doesn't just protect nearby waterways from unwanted pollution. It can also help to protect the air quality and the surrounding landscape in an area. Less dust stirred up in the excavation process equates to less dust released into the air.

By extension, as the hydrovac process also takes care not to jostle rocks or dirt, it minimizes disruption of the surrounding landscape. If you have roads near your work site, this can be especially beneficial as hydrovac excavation does not result in rocks being spilled onto nearby roads.

4. Hydrovac does less damage to utility lines

When you use hydrovac to excavate an area, the water just rushes over the utility lines. It does not break or disrupt them as mechanical excavation methods do. It reveals them without upsetting them. As a result, hydrovac excavation results in far less utility line damage than other excavation methods.

For example, a 2011 report shows that only a fraction of a percent (.2 percent) of the damage done to utility lines during excavation was related to hydrovac excavation methods. In contrast, over half of all damage (53.9 percent) to utility lines (during excavation) was caused by mechanical excavation methods.

Reducing utility line damage results in less machinery use, less fuel consumption and less resource use for fixing mistakes. Reducing potential utility lines damage also keeps the area clean and safe by ensuring your team doesn't accidentally break a sewer line, potentially spilling toxins into the nearby area.

5. Hydrovac does less damage to trees

In addition to protecting inanimate utility lines, hydrovac excavation methods can help to protect trees. The process minimizes damage to tree roots in the same way that it minimizes damage to utility lines. In addition because hydrovac excavation is so precise, you can easily plan excavation routes around and near trees without worrying about disrupting or hurting the trees.

Ultimately, leaving your trees intact helps the air quality of an area, reduces soil erosion and maintains shade levels in an area. All of those elements help the environment. Contact a civil contractor for additional reading on this topic.