Hydro Excavation

Introduction to Hydro Excavation

AQUALIS’ hydro excavation services offer extra safety, precision and efficiency for your most sensitive excavation projects. Hydro excavation, also referred to as vacuum excavation, utilizes pressurized water and industrial vacuum suction to locate and expose underground assets.

Benefits of Hydro Excavation

As pressurized water is used to move soil, air conveyance is then used to collect displaced debris and soil into a tank to be later relocated. Due to its efficiency, precision and minimal footprint, hydro-excavation has become a popular form of excavation. AQUALIS’ self-performing fleet and a nationwide team of experts can excavate areas that are high risk for traditional practices, including around buried conduits or gas and utility lines.

Traditional excavation is inefficient, inaccurate, and destructive to the area of focus and surrounding environments. AQUALIS’ hydro excavation services offer many benefits over traditional excavation, including:

Lower risk: Utilities, infrastructure, and personnel are all at lower risk during hydro excavation when compared to conventional methods.
Accessibility: AQUALIS’ hydro excavation fleet can operate in areas standard excavators cannot, including around conduits and utilities.
Precision: Focused, high-pressured jets of water controlled by AQUALIS experts allows excavation with a minimal footprint and, therefore, less restoration.
Efficiency: Higher precision and lower risk allow AQUALIS hydro excavation teams to work quickly and efficiently without delays and disruptions mechanical excavations may face.
Cost Saving: Minimizing project time, damages, and environmental disruption all factor into the cost savings AQUALIS’ hydro excavation services offer.

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Hydro Excavation Applications

Buried utilities and underground facilities are in constant need of construction, repairs, and maintenance. Mechanical excavation around these assets poses a high risk of damage or breakage. While pressurized water used in hydro excavation can remove rocks, dirt, and debris, it poses a minor threat to utilities. This allows hydro excavation to outperform traditional excavation in areas including:

Potholing/Daylighting: Locating and exposing underground assets during construction or repair projects.
Utility Exposing: Safely uncovering utility lines for easy access during repairs or installations.
Pipe Locating: Locating underground pipes for inspections, repairs and installations.
Conduit Locating: Buried conduits need to be excavated for repairs and installations.
Ditching/Trenching: Excavating ditches or trenches before installation of underground utilities.

Utility Daylighting- Bellevue, Washington

Hydro excavation uncovered that it was not intrusive roots but rather an inactive fiber optic line that had been bored directly through the stormwater line.

Read the Case Study