Camel Chat - Fall 2010
September 1st, 2010
Camels play an important role in emergency cleanup efforts
Battle-ready Units Help Cedar Rapids, Iowa Recover from Surprise Flood Assault
On June 13, 2008, the forces of nature launched a surprise assault on Cedar Rapids in the form of historic flooding, with the Cedar River cresting at 31 feet, more than 11 feet above the previous record and 19 feet above flood stage. The city’s Maintenance Division’s Preventive Maintenance Plan (PMP) as well as key debris removal equipment, including Camel sewer and catch basin cleaners, expedited Cedar Rapid’s recovery.
Having an established PMP enabled the Sewer Maintenance Division to quickly mobilize into maintenance mode only exterior to the flood zone and direct all of its other maintenance crews to the zone. It also redirected its pipe evaluation program to focus only on the flood zone. Since crews were accustomed to working off of work orders, they were able to respond efficiently.
Although the division lost its public works building and worked out of its parking lots, because it had laptops in its trucks with the GIS loaded with all of the sewer maps, underground locates continued.
Camels Make Dealing with Debris Easier
Cedar Rapids Public Works Maintenance Manager Craig Hanson, P.E., states, “With the flooding of 60_65 miles of sewer line with 20 pipe segments per mile, we relied on Super Products’ Camel sewer and catch basin cleaners to meet our debris removal challenges.
“One of our Camel units has a 16-cubic-yard debris tank, which was a tremendous productivity booster. And although we also used another Camel with a 10 cubic-yard tank, the extra six cubic yards meant a 60 percent increase in productivity with a single crew of two. Since we were experiencing lines that were 80 to 90 percent filled with debris, in some cases we were literally taking a single truckload out of a single 300-foot segment.”
Hansen also said that since the Camel can be connected to a fire hydrant to continuously refill the water tank as they were jet vacuuming, they were able work on a single pipe until it was completely clean without going offsite to recharge or refill the water tank.
“Not only did the Camel trucks withstand the demanding working conditions without any breakdowns, but because they are front reel trucks, our operators had better access to the equipment with the added safety of working out of traffic,” Hansen said.
Proven Performance
Every day the Camel earns its stripes as it meets municipalities’ regular and emergency sewer cleaning needs. Municipalities know that they can rely on the Camel’s proven capabilities to complete the toughest jobs. Not only are the units easy to operate and require virtually no maintenance, their unique ejector plate unloading and dewatering functions allow Camels to produce drier loads than any other sewer cleaner on the market today, which means fewer trips to the dump and reduced disposal costs.
