What is Hydro-Excavation?

This type of excavation is also called "Vacuum Excavation", "safe excavation", "hydro-digging", "hydro-trenching" or "soft digging". The basic process is always the same, pressurised water or air and a vacuum source to remove the material.

Hydro-Excavation is a non-mechanical and non-destructive process which combines pressurised water and a high flow of moving air to simultaneously excavate and evacuate native soils at a controlled rate. The soil and water slurry are conveyed via an 8th tube to a truck-mounted debris tank. This process allows for quick, clean and precise evacuations which require less backfill, less labour force, less restoration and less environmental impact than conventional digging methods. A controlled flow water stream allows for surgeon like accuracy. While removing only material necessary for repair or inspection, minimal material needs to be removed when compared with the large, less-than-accurate digger or excavator.

What is a Hydro-Excavator?

A Hydro-Excavator is a completely self-contained unit which is comprised of several pieces of equipment. The complete package is absolutely necessary to provide the most efficient service to the customer.

Benefits: Clean Cut

Using the pressurised water stream, the water gun becomes a surgeon's knife, This is the key to clean cuts and minimal post-excavation restoration activities. The Hydro-Excavator can be remotely placed so that further restoration from the large footprint of the equipment is no longer an issue.

Benefits: Safety

Proper excavation activity around buried utilities is often subject to short cuts, namely non-mechanical exposure of the utility. More often than not, this results in serious injury and sometimes death. Hydro-Excavation is a non-mechanical, non- destructive way of safety exposing buried utilities.

This process also allows for workers to stay on the surface out of the excavation. By virtually eliminating accidental line damage and trench cave-ins, can there be a safer way?

Benefits: Environmental Impact

The Hydro-Excavation process lends itself to be a very clean and precise method of digging. Less material removal means that less disruption to the surrounding environment occurs. Debris safely stored onboard removes any worry of blowing or runoff of sediment into sewers and water ways. Sometimes erosion control measures are not always in place around the tailings.

Large-scale exposure of underground utility systems is quick and safe using the Hydro-Excavation method. Advantages in these crowded areas are numerous. Most notable is the safe exposure of "unknown utilities." Hydro-Excavation is a quick way to clean on top and under utilities which would otherwise have required hand scrapping. The amount of material to be removed is not an issue: a neat, clean cut, safe and extreamly workable excavation is the result.