MACE Responds to Emergency Call Out
MACE were recently called on by ADSSC to attend a high profile emergency sewage flooding incident. We needed to fix a fractured sewer force main caused by a building contractor. The problem began last Tuesday (3rd Jan) when the contractor broke through a main sewer pipe in the area of Mohammed Bin Zayed City, east of Mussafah, which was carrying pumped raw sewage from Abu Dhabi Island to the main pumping station on the mainland.
The main Abu Dhabi pumping station had to divert flows, which increased demand on the remaining network, as a result, there were times when the network could not cope. This increased the pressure on the MACE teams struggling with the spilled sewage and fractured pipe over 6 meters below the sand.
The first task was to excavate primarily by hand to expose the two pressure mains, once the pipes had been positively located a larger and deeper excavation using sheet trenching to stop the sides from collapsing could be installed. Following another day of 24 hour hand digging the broken pipe was fully exposed and a repair collar was fitted. The pumps on the island were then restarted and the main pushed up to full pressure for several hours to ensure that not even the smallest leak remained. ADSSC were then able to confidently order the excavation backfilled and our equipment removed from site. All the works were completed in less than three days by the MACE team working 24 hours a day until the job was finished.
