I had the wonderful opportunity to ride along with Ben and Josh, some of Madison’s hard working maintenance workers. Ben and Josh work as a team to clean and maintain the City’s sanitary and storm sewers. 365 days, working day and night, the City’s maintenance workers and the Big Green Vactor make sure your sewers are clean and working properly. Don’t get me wrong, this is not an easy job. Rain or shine, Ben and Josh are out in the field.
As Ben drove the Big Green Vactor, Josh trailed behind him in a red Chevy truck. The first stop was Clarence Street, on the Southeast side of Madison. The first step was to remove the access structure lid to access the sanitary sewer. As Josh removed the lid, Ben calibrated the Big Green Vactor. The Big Green Vactor uses high pressure water pushed through a 1-inch flex hose with a specially-designed nozzle to propel through the underground sewer main during cleaning. Ben ran the hose while Josh stood approximately 100 feet away at the next access structure. Ben inserted the hose, pulled the lever, and waited on Josh’s signal that the hose had reached the end of the sewer main. Once it reached the end, the nozzle began rolling back toward the vactor while scouring the pipe and pulling any debris in the main back to the sewer access structure the truck is working out of. They pulled the hose out, put the sewer access cover back on, and moved to the next one. Sewer after sewer, Ben and Josh worked together to prevent sewer backups and ensure your home and water are clean.
Vactors are capable of cleaning thousands of linear feet per day, depending on sanitary main size and how dirty it is. Vactors, even though they carry 1,500 gallons of water, are able to work in extreme cold temperatures. The Vactors are equipped with a water recirculating system to help prevent freezing, which is much needed with Wisconsin winters.
The City of Madison has one of the best preventative maintenance programs in the region with a dedication to maintaining and cleaning the City’s sanitary and storm sewers. The aggressive approach with the big green vactors helps the City of Madison decrease the number of sewer backups to single digits each year. Sewer backups are very expensive and a health hazard for the community. In addition to low backup numbers, it uses high-pressured water instead of chemicals, making it more cost-efficient and less hazardous.
But the hero isn’t the big green vactor, it’s workers like Ben and Josh who dedicate their days and nights to service the City of Madison. Without them, well, the vactors would just be big and green.
I gained much respect and admiration for maintenance workers after my trip in the big green vactor. While the job is not glamorous, it is vital and necessary to the wellbeing of the community. So next time you see The Big Green Vactor, remember the essential workers who dedicate their lives to make Madison such a beautiful city.
Ben has been working for the City for 21 years, and he loves it. When I asked him what he loves about his job he told about all the benefits of working for local government but concluded with, “I just love being outside,” which really is the cherry on top.
