Developed by local pump and dredging expert IPR, the SlurrySucker dredging system recently provided the ideal solution for getting the emergency water dams at a Gauteng wastewater treatment plant back to optimal condition.
Warren Spann, Business Development Manager at IPR, explains that the emergency dams had filled with sludge over time, and were presenting an operational risk to the plant. Dredging the dams with hydraulic excavators was not effective for a number of reasons, and the manual removal of sludge in trucks caused environmental challenges. The dams are vital sources of additional water for the treatment plant during times when insufficient volumes are flowing into the facility.
“IPR was contracted to conduct the dredging of these emergency water dams, and we put our new generation SlurrySucker Maxi onto the job,” says Spann. “This powerful dredging system is equipped with three Toyo K30 heavy-duty submersible slurry pumps, and was able to remove 50 dry tonnes per hour.”
Importantly, these specialised heavy duty 22kW Toyo pumps are capable of dealing with the wide variety of solids that accompany the wastewater to the plant including rags, nappies and even pillows. The pumps’ capacity allowed them to pump the sludge through 450 metres of pipeline on this contract, without the need for inline boosting.
