An apparatus, system and method for removing and treating contaminated materials on a bottom of a body of water and introducing growth packets to revitalize the treated bottom of the body of water. The structure may comprise a vessel with an open face. The vessel may be lowered down to the bottom of the body of water with the face facing down. As a result, the vessel and the bottom form an isolated space. The structure may comprise at least one agitating device(s) for stirring up the materials inside the vessel so as to form a mixture containing the sediment materials which in turn contain the contaminants. Multiple at least one pipe(s) may be coupled to the vessel for transporting the mixture out of the vessel for processing (filtering, treating with chemicals, etc.) so as to neutralize or eliminate the contaminants in the mixture. Then, the treated mixture can be returned to the inside of the vessel via the at least one pipe(s).

The invention discloses a process to implement and maintain water bodies larger than 15,000 m.sup.3 for recreational use, such as lakes or artificial lagoons, with excellent color, transparency and cleanness properties at low cost, which comprises the following steps: a.providing a structure able to contain a large water body larger than 15,000 m.sup.3; b.feeding the structure of step (a) with inlet water having iron and manganese levels lower than 1.5 ppm and turbidity lower than 5 NTU; c.measuring water pH, ideally it should be within a range lower than 7.8; d.adding an oxidizing agent to the water contained in the structure of step (a), with which a 600 mV minimal ORP is controlled in water for a minimal period of 4 hours and in maximal cycles of 48 hours; e.adding a flocculating agent in concentrations within 0.02 and 1 ppm with maximal frequencies of 6 days and cleaning the bottom of the structure of step (a) with a suction device to remove precipitated impurities from the bottom of said structure, together with the additional flocculants and;
f.generating a displacement of surface water containing impurities and surface oils by means of the injection of inlet water according to step (b), which generates said displacement in such a way to remove said surface water by means of a system for impurities and surface oils removal arranged in the structure of step (a), which together with step (e) replaces traditional filtering. The present invention also discloses a structure to contain large water bodies comprising a system for the removal of impurities and surface oils by means of skimmers and the suction device to clean said structure.

The invention relates to a manoeuvrable trailing dredging vessel comprising; a vessel propulsion member coupled with a propulsion shaft provided with a single gear for driving the propulsion member, a drive system having a central drive shaft coupled with the vessel propulsion member for providing power to the vessel propulsion member, a transmission device having at least a trailing transmission shaft provided with a trailing pinion and a sailing transmission shaft provided with a sailing pinion,
wherein the central drive shaft is coupled with the single gear of the propulsion shaft through one of the trailing transmission shaft and the sailing transmission shaft.

A hydraulic manifold may be used with a dredge. The hydraulic manifold may have a body with a mounting surface, a front surface located opposite the mounting surface, a top surface located between the mounting and front surfaces, a bottom surface located opposite the top surface, and end surfaces located opposite each other and connecting the mounting, front, top, and bottom surfaces. The manifold may also have at least one drain port and at least one supply port in at least one of the end surfaces, at least one valve port in the top surface, at least one consumer port in the top surface, and at least one transponder port in the bottom surface.

A suctioning device for suctioning impurities from the bottom of large artificial water bodies is provided. The suctioning device includes a flexible sheet configured to provide a structural frame; a plurality of first brushes depending from the sheet; a plurality of middle brushes; a plurality of lateral brushes; a plurality of suction points; a plurality of wheels configured to provide secondary support when the brushes are worn out; a plurality of collectors configured to gather the suctioned water into external suction lines; a plurality of internal suction lines configured to conduit the suctioned bottom water flow from the plurality of suction points to the plurality of collecting means; and a coupling device connecting the internal suction lines and the collectors, wherein a rate of the bottom water flow entering the suctioning device is the same or higher than a rate of water flow suctioned by an external pumping system.

A dredging apparatus for removing sediments from a bed of an expanse of water, includes: a suction apparatus including a) a submersible pump including: a housing body provided with an inlet mouth and with a discharge opening and an impeller rotatably supported in the body between the inlet mouth and the discharge opening and rotatably driven by a respective driving device; and b) a suction head associated to the inlet mouth of the housing body of the pump and provided at the bottom with a suction opening of the sediments; wherein the suction opening of the head has a value of the cross-section area dimensioned to achieve in the working range of the pump a suction speed capable of removing the sediments by means of the fluid dynamics removal action carried out by the water sucked into the head.

An equipment for in-situ restoration of sediment, including an amphibious platform and following devices provided on the amphibious platform: a screw suction device, one end of which is hinged to one end of the amphibious platform, and the other end can extend into the sediment for sucking up the sediment; a dehydration device that is provided downstream of the screw suction device and communicates with one end of the screw suction device; a sediment treatment device that is provided downstream of the dehydration device for treating the sediment and processing it into a planting base; a grass blanket processing device that is provided downstream of the sediment treatment device for planting submerged plants on the planting base to form a submerged grass blanket; a grass blanket paving device, one end of which is close to the grass blanket processing device, and the other end extends toward the screw suction device and into the water; a drainage pipe that respectively communicates with the dehydration device and the sediment treatment device; and a hopper through which the sediment is conveyed between the dehydration device and the sediment treatment device. In the invention, the highly polluted sediment is subjected to bio-safety disposal to form a planting base for the growth of submerged vegetation, so as to realize the in-situ restoration of the sediment of rivers and lakes.

An equipment for in-situ restoration of sediment, including an amphibious platform and following devices provided on the amphibious platform: a screw suction device, one end of which is hinged to one end of the amphibious platform, and the other end can extend into the sediment for sucking up the sediment; a dehydration device that is provided downstream of the screw suction device and communicates with one end of the screw suction device; a sediment treatment device that is provided downstream of the dehydration device for treating the sediment and processing it into a planting base; a grass blanket processing device that is provided downstream of the sediment treatment device for planting submerged plants on the planting base to form a submerged grass blanket; a grass blanket paving device, one end of which is close to the grass blanket processing device, and the other end extends toward the screw suction device and into the water; a drainage pipe that respectively communicates with the dehydration device and the sediment treatment device; and a hopper through which the sediment is conveyed between the dehydration device and the sediment treatment device. In the invention, the highly polluted sediment is subjected to bio-safety disposal to form a planting base for the growth of submerged vegetation, so as to realize the in-situ restoration of the sediment of rivers and lakes.

Marine pump vessels and wing fluidizer support vessels, and methods of using same. Wing fluidizer support vessels are configured to deploy a wing fluidizer including thrusters capable of fluidizing sediments from a first seabed location and moving it to a second seabed location. Pump vessels include one or more pumps deployable from a separate vessel and stowable thereon.

Marine pump vessels and wing fluidizer support vessels, and methods of using same. Wing fluidizer support vessels are configured to deploy a wing fluidizer including thrusters capable of fluidizing sediments from a first seabed location and moving it to a second seabed location. Pump vessels include one or more pumps deployable from a separate vessel and stowable thereon.