Access Issues Not An Issue USST is currently working for the City of Orlando removing sand, grit and material from 2,500 feet of 48-inch sanitary sewer pipe near Kirkman Road, leading to the City’s Conserv II Water Reclamation Facility. The City of Orlando’s project manager, Charlie Conklin, P.E., says “I am very happy with their performance on this project, and I’m looking forward to utilizing their services on the next phase of this project and other future projects.” Access issues on the project included hard-to-reach manholes located on the opposite side of Shingle Creek. Access for equipment was also challenging as the 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 adjusted their approach and utilized our Combination3® technology to easily overcome the obstacles in order to reach the job site and get the work done efficiently and safely. USST’s Combination3® technology engages jetter, vacuum and downhole pumping with 49-foot knuckleboom fully integrated on one truck chassis, creating a powerhouse of equipment in the submergent cleaning industry. No additional equipment or tools are needed to be brought in, saving both time and resources … Read More
90-Tons Removed From WWTP
Facility Remained in Full Operation For more than 5 years, the Avon Park WWTP has been accumulating unwanted sand and grit, a problem that often leads to increased energy costs and reduces plant efficiency. USST’s reliable crew was able to safely and efficiently remove 90-tons of sand and grit from Avon Parks’s headworks and two digesters. With an ADF (average daily flow) of about 850,000 gallons per day and a permitted capacity of 1.5 MGD (millions of gallons per day), this facility sought to restore the capacity of their facility as a preventative maintenance measure. Using our GritGone Process®, the facility was cleaned while all structures remained in full operation and the removed material was paint-filter dry upon disposal. Because of the capabilities of our patented Combination3® technology, the headworks did not require confined space entry, reducing liabilities for both ourselves and the client. USST’s technology also utilizes an interchangeable system of both vacuum and downhole pumping methods, a crucial factor when cleaning structures such as headworks, lift stations, and pump stations. Our vacuum removes matted FOGs from the top of the structure while our downhole pumping system removes debris from the bottom of the structure, all while the facility remains … Read More
A Year in Review
2017 was a busy year for USST. We took a look back at what we’ve been up to over the past year, and even surprised ourselves with what we discovered! Check out a few fun facts below.
Lift Station Maintenance Made Easy
REDUCE THE RISK OF SANITARY SEWER OVERFLOW IN WET WELLS Wet well and lift station maintenance are a frequent source of concern for most wastewater collection systems. Performing regular maintenance can be difficult due to access challenges, costs associated with shutting down pumps, and confined space entry permitting and safety issues. Wastewater systems rely on lift or pump stations to transport collected wastewater to a treatment plant. Lift or pump stations typically include two to three pumps for redundancy — all of which require periodic inspection and maintenance. More often than not, a wastewater facility may only have one operable pump. Additionally, the water elevation in a wet well cannot be lowered in high-flow conditions such as heavy rain periods or during tourist seasons. With one operating pump, traditional maintenance can seem nearly impossible. However, in order to reduce pump run time, reduce energy costs, and prevent debris from accumulating and creating new issues downstream, lift station maintenance is critical. Performing regular lift station maintenance reduces the risk of sanitary sewer overflow (SSO), a scenario where untreated wastewater is discharged from a sewer into the environment before reaching a wastewater treatment facility. SSO can have extremely negative consequences for the … Read More
88.5 Cubic Yards Removed From WWTF
That’s More Than 17,000 Thanksgiving Turkeys! The City of Winter Springs, Florida utilizes two wastewater treatment facilities (WWTF) to serve its population of more than 35,000 people. 136-miles of sewer mains transport all the city’s wastewater to the city’s East or West WWTF. These two facilities combined are permitted to treat nearly 4.1 million gallons of wastewater per day. The City of Winter Springs, Florida utilizes two wastewater treatment facilities (WWTF) to serve its population of more than 35,000 people. 136-miles of sewer mains transport all the city’s wastewater to the city’s East or West WWTF. These two facilities combined are permitted to treat nearly 4.1 million gallons of wastewater per day. USST restored the capacity of both the East and West WWTF utilizing our GritGone Process®, and both facilities were cleaned while remaining in full operation. Our Combination3® truck removed approximately 88.5-CY of sand and grit and cleaned a total of 12 structures between both facilities. Amongst those structures were aeration tanks, digesters and grit chambers. One of the grit chambers was filled with about 10-feet of sand and grit! Although accessing the structures was difficult, our Combination3® trucks are equipped with a 49-foot telescoping dripless tube system … Read More
In The USST Spotlight: Paul Stephenson
Say Hello to Paul Stephenson, one of our hardworking Service Technicians here at USST. A Navy veteran and former nomad turned Floridian, Paul isn’t afraid to try new things, loves a good challenge and has been with us for more than a year and a half. Read on to learn some other surprising details about our team member. Hometown: Nowhere in particular. I lived all over the place and never lived anywhere for more than a few years due to the military, but consider Orlando, Florida my home and favorite place to live so far. What I Do as a Service Tech I: Ensure jobs get done efficiently and safely. It’s important the customer is happy with the services we provide. Favorite Aspect of the Job: I love the challenges. No tank is the same and every new job is a new brain teaser to figure out the best way to handle it. When you get the job done, it’s a good feeling. Proudest Accomplishment at USST: When we completed a 5-day job in just 3.5-days. Motivation to Work Safe: For me and the crew to leave the same way we got there. My Inspiration: To try to be the … Read More
Facility Remains in Full Operation While Cleaned
Capacity Restored in Charlotte County The Burnt Store Water Reclamation Facility (WRF) treats wastewater from more than 1,200 sewer connections in a southeastern portion of Charlotte County. Acquired by Charlotte County in 2003, the former 0.25 millions of gallons per day (MGD) facility underwent several upgrades, including doubling its treatment capacity to 0.5 MGD, as well as enabling the facility to simultaneously dispose of reject water and excess effluent produced by the plant. USST removed 21-cubic yards of sand and grit from three structures at Charlotte County’s Burnt Store WRF. Thanks to our GritGone Process®, the facility remained in full operation while the debris was removed. John Thompson Jr., Chief Plant Operator at the Burnt Store WRF says, “The project that U.S. Submergent did for us was wonderful. They not only helped with our grant application, but their crews were very accommodating and […] professional.” Accessing particularly tall tanks, like Burnt Store’s 30(+)-foot EQ tank, can be challenging. Luckily, our Combination3® trucks are equipped with a 49-foot knuckle boom crane with telescoping tubes. This eliminated the need for additional equipment on the jobsite, saving the facility valuable time and money. Got hard-to-reach places that need cleaning? Interested in learning … Read More
Safety in Movement
We are moving fast, every day, in both our personal and professional lives. It is during these busy times when we must focus and be extra attentive of things in motion around us, including ourselves, especially when safety is the goal. Safety matters most when we are moving; there is a higher probability of things happening that shouldn’t. People, places, equipment, vehicles and more are constantly on the move, meaning more risk for the individual. “Falls” is the number one cited job site fatality in 2015 according to OSHA1, followed by “Struck By Object.” Take a glance at OSHA’s “Top 10 OSHA Citations of 2016” if you’d like to learn more about common job site violations, or to simply serve as a reminder for the future. A culture of safety requires paying attention throughout the day, particularly when there is more to pay attention to. Consider the different levels of effort required to pay attention while driving in good weather compared to moving fast in heavy traffic in the rain. As our CEO, Denver J. Stutler, likes to say, “What matters most, is getting it done when it matters!” Focused individuals lead to a focused organization, which in turn leads … Read More
2,000+ Tons On Its Way Out
Hard at Work in Daytona Beach That’s the weight of nearly 1,000 Ford F-150s! USST is working hard to restore the capacity of the City of Daytona’s Bethune Point 13 MGD water reclamation facility. Over 2,000 tons of material – primarily sand and grit – are estimated to be removed from the facility upon completion of this project. After being offline for approximately two years, this facility is progressing towards being fully operational once we complete our work. Sand and grit aren’t the only materials USST can remove from a facility. We also have the ability to remove rags, vegetation and more from pipes, ditches and tanks. Here in Daytona, our dependable crew removed vegetation up to eight-foot tall before working to restore the capacity of three large aeration ditches and one large aeration tank. No job is too large for USST. If you have questions about our capabilities or equipment, reach out to us at 407-809-5556 or email info@ussubmergent.com. We love a challenge!
Storm Season Is In Full Swing – Are You Prepared?
The Impact of Hurricane Floods on Wastewater Treatment Plants With two heavy-hitting hurricanes recently battering both Texas and Florida, wastewater treatment plants across the country can learn from what’s happening in these areas to prepare for the potential impact of flooding, storm surges, and other extreme weather on their own systems. In addition to causing billions of dollars of damage from wind and rain, storm surges and flooding from hurricanes Harvey and Irma have wreaked havoc in cities and wastewater treatment plants along the coastlines. In Palm Beach, Florida, crews were out maintaining and repairing lift stations before, during and after the storm in an effort to keep the town up and running.1 In St. Petersburg and Orlando, Florida, 50o,000 gallons of untreated water flowed into streets and homes after Hurricane Irma.2 Pipelines in Florida are typically designed to handle twice the amount of water they are constructed for, but no system can handle the amounts of rain or storm surges from these types of weather events. Meanwhile in Texas, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that 40 out of 1,219 wastewater treatment plants in the Houston area are out of service due to Hurricane Harvey as of Monday, September 11. … Read More
