Wastewater leaves your home from sink and shower drains, washing machines, dish washers, and commodes and enters the City's sanitary sewer system. A vast network of pipes lie unseen under the ground and function continually day and night to carry your wastewater to the Utility's treatment plant.

     Jacksonville Wastewater Utility personnel work daily to clean and maintain these lines to ensure that your wastewater flows, either by gravity or pump, to the treatment plant to be cleaned and disinfected to a quality acceptable to be released into the environment.

     Daily maintenance of lines includes cleaning and repair work. Lines are cleaned to rid them of grease build-up, grit or gravel, root intrusion, and other debris. The Utility uses a variety of equipment to perform this cleaning which includes vactor (vacuuming), jet propulsion (water pressure), root cutters, etc. Repair work consists of uncovering lines and repairing holes, offset joints, and other problems in the main lines which have developed over years of settling, weather, and harsh usage.

      The Utility operates a television camera to identify problems that would otherwise be left to guesswork. The camera is lowered into the manhole and inserted into the main line. Utility technicians can observe the condition of the line as the camera is propelled through the system. Any problems in the line are recorded and these are then added to the repair list to be completed by the construction crews.