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The Most Difficult Install Ever, Eretrea Greece

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The city of Eretrea in Greece, one of the best known Archaeological sites in the world, has had a much needed upgrade. A Flovac vacuum system has been installed to replace old septic tanks that still serviced the houses in the town.

Two vacuum pump stations were required, as well as 414 collection pits, a cable monitoring system and 28,000 meters of pipework including the house connections. A
vacuum system was chosen due to the difficult ground conditions and the flexibility that the pipework allowed for. A gravity pipe system would require deep trenching and straight lengths of pipe.  Vacuum mains can be installed with full flexibility and can be rerouted around difficult areas.

Difficult Installation

The city was an important city in Ancient Greece beginning at the time of the Bronze Age in the 8th century BC and was a seat of trade,  commerce and education. As the site is still under archaeological excavation it is still common to find artifacts while digging into the ground. We often found evidence of graves, walls, bronze artifacts and perfume bottles. Some more than 2,000 years old. At all times during excavation we were accompanied by two archaeologists and no excavation could take place without them. Once something was found, we would have to stop pipelaying and wait until drawings were done. Permission would then needed be granted from the Central Archaeological Institute to continue, which often took a long time.

We also needed to deal with a water table at 60-70 cm (24 inches). You would think that this close to the sea that it would be salt water but no, it was clear sweet fresh water. At 90 cm (36 inches) there is a hard crust which when perforated allowed salt water to ingress.

A very difficult but a very rewarding project.

Largest Vacuum Sewer System in Greece is Completed

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Flovac Greece has just completed the largest vacuum sewerage system ever undertaken in Greece covering the towns of Mitrousi and Skoutari in the Serres Region of northern Greece.

The system which has two large vacuum pump stations, 800 collection pits and 45km of vacuum pipework. The system takes away the sewage of 3,600 residents in Mitrousi and over 4,100 residents in Skoutari. This makes it one of the largest systems ever installed in Europe.

The Serres region is an environmentally important area which won a European sustainable tourism award for aquatourism. A large artificial lake, Lake Kerkini was created nearby to make use of the extensive marshlands in the area. This is also behind the need for vacuum sewers in the villages as the water table is very high and actually visible on the surface in some areas.

As the vacuum sewer pipework can be laid at minimum depth and avoid de-watering is was seen as the only way in which a proper sewer system could be installed.

Vacuum sewer system are also popular in Greece because of the flexibility in the laying of the pipe. On many occasions archaeological artifacts are found during the construction of a system and rather than hold up construction for weeks or months while a site is investigated, the vacuum pipework can be diverted around a sensitive area, thus saving time and money. The Serres region is known for a number of antiquities including important sites from the time of Alexander the Great in 300 BC.

Flovac’s partners in Northern Greece, Environmental Engineering S.A., based in Thessaloniki, are the largest installers and operators of vacuum sewers in Greece and have been involved in a number of important projects since it was founded in 1993. The company principals Miltos Chatziiliou and Spiros Kolovoi have been very involved in engineering design, product development,

construction works, treatment as well as the operations and maintenance of a number of systems. Miltos works very closely With Harry Gerpinis who looks after Flovac’s interests in Southern Greece and has been instrumental in a number of significant projects including many large marina’s.