Severe flooding events in South Africa’s coastal regions over the past few years have highlighted the importance of maintaining infrastructure to deal with excess rainfall. A municipality in KwaZulu-Natal has recently proactively commissioned the building of over 50 truck-mounted jetting units in order to boost its capacity to clear stormwater drains and sewer systems in its area.
Werner Pumps, leading South African manufacturer of high-pressure jetting and vacuum equipment, is building the custom units for the municipality and is handing over five vehicles each month.
Sebastian Werner, MD of Werner Pumps, explains that these units are an important tool for both clearing stormwater drains and sewers after a flooding event, and for ongoing maintenance.
“If stormwater drains are not cleared effectively and regularly, the build-up of debris can lead to underground seepage of water, which in turn can cause other major infrastructure issues like sinkholes. If sewers become blocked, it can also lead to seepage and have serious health implications if sewerage overflows onto roads and into other public spaces,” says Werner.
Local production
Werner Pumps manufactures all of its jetting and vacuum equipment locally, and works with a variety of chassis manufacturers, depending on which chassis each customer prefers to have their units mounted on.
“As a local company, we are also able to identify and meet the particular needs of this market,” explains Werner. “Our units are designed to function well in the South African environment and are extremely tough.”
As a local manufacturing partner, Werner Pumps has also been able to accommodate the municipality’s request that the units include crew cabs so that full teams can travel on them along their maintenance routes. “This helps with saving on costs, time and labour,” says Werner.
The order came about after Werner Pumps had initially delivered a smaller quantity of units, and when the municipality’s teams experienced the quality and effectiveness of the equipment first-hand, it increased the total order quantity.
Customisation
The truck-mounted jetting units can be used for drain blasting and pipeline cleaning, as well as stormwater and sewer cleaning.
“In terms of customisation, they can be either PTO driven or donkey engine driven and we can make our tanks out of a variety of materials. They come in 6 000l, 10 000l and 15 000 litre sizes and we have many different options in terms of side-mounted accessories and hose reel options. This means that customers can get units that are designed specifically around their particular context,” says Werner.
Werner Pumps supplies a wide range of accessories for all of its units, including low-water inlet switches, high-pressure jetting hoses (20m, 30m or 50m), high-pressure guns with lances, nozzle holders and fan nozzles. “We do our best to meet all our customers’ high-pressure jetting and vacuuming needs and can advise on how best to service particular application,” Werner says.