One of the biggest dredging companies in the Netherlands contacted Bell Dredging Pumps, member of the Diesko Group, for a suitable pump for cleaning a 17-kilometer-long polluted ditch in Belgium. 



The polluted sludge was caused by a technical mistake when an overflow was accidently opened and the polluted sludge ended up in the ditch. The best way to perform this job is using the Bell 200 dredging pump including the auger head. This head is specially designed for operating in polluted areas without contaminating other parts of that specific area. The working principle of the auger is that the pump is attached to the 15-meter-long reach arm of the Caterpillar 324E excavator. 




        
The excavator engine powers the pump and auger motor, and moves the pump across the bottom of the ditch. The excavator mounted auger has a reach of 13.5 meter. The operator swings the pump to the right and sucks up to polluted sludge from the bottom into the roller, and brings the sludge to the middle to be sucked up in the pump and discharged into the basin. When swinging to the left the mechanism is reverse, the right side will be closed and the left side of the auger will be opened. Operating this way will make sure that the operator is dredging with reduced turbidity and less water is taken from the area.  



For this project several basins lined with plastic sheeting were installed at 1000-meter discharge intervals along the ditch. The Bell 200 with auger head is capable of discharging over distances of 1000 meter. The polluted sludge which is pumped into the basin will be transported back to the steel factory by truck. To do this the client will pump out the water from the basin back into the creek and the remaining dry material is taken out of the basins with the use of an excavator including bucket. While taking out the dry material the operator needs to work very carefully to not damage the plastic lining of the basin. A professional operator will take care this will not happen. 


After hauling the material back to the responsible company the sludge will be treated and properly disposed of. On April the 18^th the Bell 200 dredging pump arrived on site. The pump clears a 200m stretch of polluted ditch per day. While operating the pump can reach a concentration mix of 30% up to 40% pure solids. Because the sludge is very light these exceptionally high production rates can be achieved and the total project time can be shortened.