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Martin County crews demonstrate vacuum truck used to clear catch basins, prevent flooding
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Summary
In a Martin County video, a stormwater operator described how crews use a vacuum truck and multiple suction tubes to remove debris from catch basins and culverts, helping prevent flooding and protect local water quality. The operator described common finds and how crews dispose of material.
In a Martin County video series, a host and a county stormwater operator demonstrated how crews use a large vacuum truck to clean catch basins, pipes and other stormwater structures to help prevent flooding and keep water clean.
The demonstration matters because routine cleaning of stormwater infrastructure reduces flood risk for homes and streets and removes debris that can harm water quality. Martin County’s crews showed how equipment and on-the-ground judgment determine how a site is cleaned.
Steve, a Martin County stormwater operator, described the crew’s setup and how they choose equipment for each job. "What we'll do is I'll have my partner come out. He'll start setting up, bringing out the tubes. We have 6 tubes to, to the truck because we want you know, depending on the depth because sometimes we only have to use 1 for a culvert, in a in a driveway culvert. But with this 1, we have to use 3 because we got the depth," Steve said. He said the crew starts the engine and water, couples the tubes, "and once we click couple of them together, we'll get the vacuum working." Steve added crews try "get as much as we can out before we start putting the water down inside," because adding water can make cleanup harder.
The operator described items crews commonly remove. "A toy truck that was remote control" emerged from a culvert on one job, Steve said, and another retrieval produced a Hilti drill gun buried under about 3 feet of rocks. He said some lines of the system can extend about 5 feet down.
On disposal, Steve said crews typically set debris to the side, then call another truck equipped with a grappling device to transfer material for removal: "we'll put it off to the side and we'll call, another truck to come in either to the grappling hook to grapple it and put it in the back of it and put it, send it off to the junkyard," he said.
The video closed with the host thanking viewers and offering a safety reminder: "We'll see you next time. Stay safe on the roads."
