HYDRO-excavation
technique
Helps Accurately Locate Utilities
by Jason Sweet
For the University of Wisconsin-
Madison East Campus Utility Improvements project , the critical task of utility location was done with hydro-excavation , a technique that uses a high-pressure water stream to break up the soil in roughly half-foot columns while a vacuum removes the soil from the excavation area .
Once utilities are located , the vertical and horizontal data was then entered into a CADD file for incorporation into the design base file . The data was crucial for preventing conflicts between the existing utilities and the proposed utilities and , more importantly , for preventing hazardous situations such as hitting gas or electric lines during construction .
Hydro-excavation is an accurate , low- impact procedure that ’ s costeffective as well . Though , as Fred Klingbeil , Ayres Associates vice president and project manager for a portion of the project , pointed out , utility location was such a key factor for this project that well over $ 100,000 was spent on it .
10│TRENDS