SediVision’s General Manager Brings a Focus on Building

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Expansion is Underway to Meet Interest in Complete Visibility SediVision® LLC, a subsidiary of USST Holdings Company, has brought on a seasoned aquatic projects manager and business development specialist to serve as General Manager, leading all aspects of operations, production, and sales.  David Graves, a Florida native with a career in hydrographic survey, will be managing a growing team at SediVision® LLC.   “SediVision® LLC is offering complete visibility and predictive maintenance solutions that the wastewater industry has never had, it’s like an MRI for wastewater tanks,” said Denver J. Stutler, Jr., CEO at SediVision® LLC.  “Our company has experience bringing revolutionary solutions to market and this patent-pending technology requires innovation and thought leadership from a General Manager that can meet our customers where they are.  David’s specialized background and unique skills are a vital addition to managing our talented and growing team.  We expect this momentum to continue as the features and benefits of SediVision® are made available to engineers and wastewater managers across the United States.” A graduate of Texas A&M University at Galveston with a bachelor’s degree in Marine Biology, David Graves is no stranger to seeing in dark water.  He’s studied benthic habitats in the muddy … Read More

350 Tons of Material Removed from Basins in Central Florida

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A Challenging Environment Calls for Skillful Pros In Central Florida, a 12 MGD reclamation facility was experiencing a loss of capacity in their north aeration and anoxic basins.  These tanks presented a challenge because they were lined with rows of diffusers that circulate oxygen feeding the microorganisms and bacteria residents that break down the waste.  This job required experienced professionals to access and remove the built-up material, so the customer called on U.S. Submergent Technologies (USST) for a solution.  USST has cleaned tanks, pipes, and lift stations on over 400 projects around the United States.  Our qualified crews know how to evaluate situations on the ground to get the job done safely and efficiently. “I am proud of our guys for navigating the hard-to-reach environment along the bottom of these tanks and capably removing large amounts of material,” said Eric Pace, Foreman at USST.  “Our patented equipment and thorough safety measures allowed us to get into these structures and complete the job safely without any incidents.” At USST, safety is our number one priority, and these structures were vast in size and 20-feet off the ground.  By executing a site-specific health and safety plan, our crews implemented confined space entry … Read More

63 Tons of Material Removed from Rural Treatment Plant

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Florida Sand and Grit Grant Program Reimburses Restoration Costs A rural community located in Southeast Florida’s Treasure Coast was experiencing capacity issues with their wastewater treatment plant’s multi-tank.  Specifically, inside their chlorine contact chamber, which disinfects and treats the wastewater.  A considerable amount of debris was clogging up this structure and decreasing efficiency at the plant. This municipal wastewater treatment plant collects and treats more than 500,000 gallons of wastewater per day and met the qualifications for reimbursement through Florida’s Sand and Grit Grant Program, which makes it possible for publicly owned facilities averaging 3MGD or less to address the issues of sand and grit accumulation by reimbursing 50-100% of restoration costs.  “U.S. Submergent Technologies (USST) worked with us to help make the process of restoring capacity at our plant as seamless as possible,” said Patrick Nolan, Utilities Manager at the Village of Indiantown.  “USST’s knowledgeable crew was professional and completed the job expeditiously while our plant remained online.  The funding available through the Florida Sand and Grit Grant program helps rural municipalities like ours continue to serve our community with excellence.”  USST came in and removed debris from the 70-foot in diameter, 18-foot-high structure with no need to drain … Read More

Sanitary Sewer Overflows – Is There a Solution?

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USST’s See, Clean, & VerifyTM Services Save Time and Money Sanitary Sewer Overflows – Is There a Solution?  Yes, especially if the overflow is caused by an obstruction.   When working with a customer who is facing issues with sanitary sewer overflow (SSO) U.S. Submergent Technologies (USST) first tries to understand the problem.  At USST, our experience has been that every sewer pipeline system is unique and collects debris differently and gaining visibility into the pipeline is the first step.  Recently, a county in Southwest Florida was at risk of SSO from their large diameter sanitary sewer pipeline, which encompassed over 15,000 feet.  USST was called in to perform our See, Clean, & VerifyTM services using our combined CCTV crawler and sonar imaging to inspect or see where accumulation was occurring and perform an inspection of surcharged lines.  “We went in and conducted a full inspection and met with the county to review our pre-cleaning report, which targeted areas of their sanitary sewer line that were of greatest concern with a high accumulation of sand and grit,” said Aaron Hood, Operations Manager at USST. “Working with the county, we established a targeted plan for 2,000 of the 15,000 feet of large-diameter … Read More

977 Tons of Sand Removed From EQ Tank

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A Massive Job Calls for USST’s Expert Knowledge A large primary clarifier serving as an equalization tank at a city’s wastewater treatment facility had accumulated 16-foot-high mounds of sand along the bottom, seriously reducing its capacity and potentially passing grit through the treatment process.  U.S. Submergent Technologies’ (USST) expertly trained crew set about to handle cleaning this massive 125-foot in diameter structure.  “Our knowledgeable crews have a proven keen ability to navigate obstacles on the ground and this job presented some unique challenges,” said Paul Del Favero, Operations Manager at USST.  “This tank was huge, it’s covered, and the walls were about 25 feet high, so accessing the material inside was not going to be easy. By utilizing specialized equipment, we were able to set up our process inside the structure and clean out the sand efficiently and without damaging the structure.” Crew members extended hydraulic lines and ran a 120-foot hose setting up a pump to run on our powerful Combination3® Truck.  Using our GritGone Process®, USST removed sand and grit while returning decanted water back to the plant for further treatment. The crew used reclaimed water from the facility to clean the structure. All these measures contributed to … Read More

Probing vs Complete Visibility Inside Wastewater Tanks

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SediVisionTM Reveals Over Three Times The Amount Of Material Than Estimated In central Florida, a wastewater treatment facility was experiencing loss of capacity and inefficiency with one of its aeration basins.  They probed this 140 by 40-foot digester from a few accessible spots along the walkway and hit concrete every time, indicating minimal material buildup.  However, the aeration basin was still using more energy than required and seemed to be suffering from a loss in capacity.  This facility could not logistically drain this tank down and wanted to know precisely what was occurring under all that dark water.  U.S. Submergent Technologies (USST) was called in to perform SediVisionTM on this critical structure to gain complete visibility under the dark water.  In just a few hours, sufficient data was collected from the tank and our team got to work compiling this information to provide complete visibility of the location and volume of material inside.  SediVisionTM revealed that a large amount of material had accumulated along the center portions of the tank, which are not accessible from the walkways. “Traditional probing of this structure would have led to estimating the amount of material at about six inches across the bottom, or over … Read More

Laser Focus: Safety on the Road at USST

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On any given day at U.S. Submergent Technologies (USST), crews mobilizing Class 8 (any vehicle over 33,000 lbs.) commercial vehicles equipped with specialized cleaning equipment, depart from our operations hub in Orlando Florida.  Their destinations are wastewater treatment facilities and critical wet infrastructure all over Florida and parts of the Southeast.  Their purpose is clear; to safely restore the capacity of wet infrastructure nobody notices but everybody relies upon.  When this professional group of experienced and knowledgeable CDL drivers gets on the road, one word, and one thing is at the top of everyone’s list, safety.   “At USST, we employ professional CDL drivers because it is a serious business moving heavy equipment and operating commercial vehicles on the road,” said Paul Meding, General Manager at USST.  “We scrutinize our drivers based on the highest safety standards and hold them accountable through our company’s Driver and Fleet Safety Program.  We focus on ongoing training and providing resources for our drivers to do their best on the roads.  The unique type of equipment we’re using every day furthers the need for our emphasis on safety.  These efforts lead to better employee productivity and a significant reduction of the risks we must … Read More

364 Tons of Material Removed from Town’s Wastewater Plant

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USST Crew Responds to Changed Conditions Adeptly In rural Northeast Florida, a municipal wastewater treatment plant operating at .4 MGD was reaching critical capacity loss with their surge tank.  This large multi-chamber tank, which is essential to the overall health and functionality of daily operations at the plant, required cleaning.  U.S. Submergent Technologies (USST) was called in to assess the structure and remove the buildup of sand and grit throughout this wastewater tank. “This project was estimated to have 36 tons of material in the tank, but once we got on-site, we were dealing with at least seven feet of material along the bottom of this structure, much more than originally expected,” said Paul Stephenson, Foreman at USST.  “Combining our experience and knowledge from cleaning hundreds of wastewater tanks, our crew was able to handle several challenges presented on the ground with accessing and removing the material in the safest and most efficient manner possible.” USST’s versatile Combination3® Truck has a 49-foot extendable boom, which was necessary to reach over the tank’s 20-foot wall, and by extending a 150-foot hose to our truck’s powerful vacuum, the crew reached and disposed of 23 loads of material.  In total, 364 tons of … Read More

Case Study: 630-Tons of Sand & Grit Removed from Oxidation Ditches

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Florida Sand and Grit Grant Program Covers Restoration Costs PROBLEM: Two oxidation ditches at two wastewater treatment plants serving the City of Mount Dora were due for cleaning, having accumulated a significant amount of sand, grit, and debris over 15-years. This loss of capacity was increasing energy costs and reducing efficiency at these treatment plants. U.S. Submergent Technologies’ (USST) knowledgeable crew was called-in with our versatile Combination3® Truck, able to handle multiple setups to complete these projects. SOLUTION: A large oxidation ditch measuring approximately 50-feet wide by 330-feet in length was the first structure our crew tackled. While this oxidation ditch was in full operation, USST utilized the Combination3® Truck’s downhole pump and 49-foot extendable boom combined with our GritGone Process® to remove approximately 287-tons of sand and grit material. The tank did not have to be drained down or taken offline for our crew to perform the cleaning. The second oxidation ditch measured approximately 40-feet wide by 130-feet in length, and a drain down was necessary to effectively reach the material. Our experienced crew safely executed confined space entry protocols and procedures to clean this structure. RESULTS: In total, approximately 630-tons of material was removed from these two structures … Read More