Last year in December we told you about a vacuum truck the City Council got. Workers spent a while learning how to use the complex piece of machinery and the hard work has paid off. This morning they took to the streets to test out the truck by cleaning drains and 7News was there to witness the vacuum truck work its magic. Councillor Willougby told us more about the truck and its great capability.
Phillip Willougby, Belize City Counsellor
"This vehicle will now be in the hands of the city and the flood mitigation unit that is housed within the counsel for our staff to utilize on a daily basis."
"What we have done to this end is we have zoned the city into several different zones and within those zones we created quadrants. Our technical staff since then have been collecting data. The data will be plugged into different data sets for the sanitation department, the works department, the flooded unit, the traffic department, etc. Thereafter then we generate a schedule whereby all the departments then go in based on the information and execute whatever needs to be done within those quadrants."
"This is the game changer right here. When we got here silt, stone, sand, debris, garbage, and waste was built up almost to the top of the concrete pavement there. We have been able to within about 15 minutes clear the particular manhole you see us operating on right there."
The truck will be used not just to clean drains but also to relieve different areas in the city that get flooded due to rain.
