SYSTEM FOR AND METHOD OF CLEANING WATER DISTRIBUTION PIPES

A method of and system for cleaning and maintaining water distribution pipes which have reduced flow due to an increase of water scale deposits, sediment and the like along the inside surface of the pipe includes a mobile cleaning unit which can be conveniently and easily connected to a pipe section to be cleaned. An aqueous cleaning solution is introduced and circulated in a first direction through the pipe section for sufficient time to dissolve and loosen scale and sediment. The flow direction of the treating solution is then reversed to break off or remove sediment or other tuberculated growth that has developed directionally with the direction of water flow in the pipe section. The turbulent flow in the opposite direction increases the effectiveness of the cleaning process in particularly troublesome and hard-to-clean pipe sections. The spent treating solution and other deposits are flushed from the pipe and the mobile cleaning unit to an appropriate waste stream. Advantageously, the direction of the flow of the treating solution can be reversed without disconnecting the cleaning unit from the pipe section.