The newest addition to the fleet of Baird’s Septic Tank Pumping will soon be on display at the Water & Wastewater Equipment, Treatment & Transport (WWETT) Show.

The 2016 Freightliner tandem-axle was built out by Vacutrux Limited for Nova Scotia-based Baird’s and is getting the show truck distinction largely because of a new graphic scheme Vacutrux developed for the company. The view from owner Allan Baird’s cottage along the Shubenacadie River served as the inspiration.

“What we’re trying to do is purvey a more environmentally friendly image,” says Baird’s operations manager, James Baxter. “It’s a cleaner industry than what has been portrayed in the past, and vehicles are newer and better maintained. That section of the river (seen in the graphics) is also a discharge point for our local treatment plant. The water from our treatment plant is clean enough that it can go into a river being used by the general public. We’re trying to get away from the image of the sanitation industry of the old days.”

The truck has a 370 hp Cummins engine, an Allison 3000 automatic transmission and a 4,100-gallon tank with a Wallenstein 1054 liquid-cooled vacuum pump. It also comes equipped with a heated collar and hoist. After the WWETT Show, the truck (dubbed “Big Brother”) will join two other septic pumpers the company has added to the fleet in the last year — “Big Sister” and “Little Sister.” One is a 2015 Freightliner tandem-axle with a 350 hp Cummins engine, a 10-speed Eaton Fuller transmission, a Wallenstein 753 vacuum pump and a 4,000-gallon tank that Baird’s acquired in January 2015. The other is a 2015 Freightliner single-axle powered by a 250 hp Cummins engine, with an Allison automatic transmission, a Fruitland RCF500 vacuum pump and a 2,330-gallon tank that was added to the fleet two months later. Other features include stainless steel hose trays, aluminum tank protectors, air shift PTO, stainless steel toolboxes, 110-gallon freshwater tanks and 12-volt high-pressure washers. And just like the truck soon to be unveiled at the WWETT Show, “Big Sister” and “Little Sister” both have the graphic scheme depicting the scene of the Shubenacadie River.

“In the late stages of 2014, we had ordered the single-axle, and at the convention for the Ontario Association of Sewage Industry Services, Nancy Gump from Andy Gump Inc. and Jake Groen from PolyJohn Canada had given a speech about improving the industry image and the environmental aspects of it,” Baxter says. “From that, and with the photo of our owner’s cottage location, Vacutrux came up with the idea for the design you see on the trucks.”

One other septic pumper, now for sale due to the addition of the 2016 Freightliner, doesn’t have the new graphics, and neither do any of the company’s restroom service units. Going forward, Baxter says the plan is to incorporate the new graphics throughout the fleet.

“We’ve had a lot of positive comments,” he says. “We’ve had people saying something to our drivers, or even coming into our yard to take pictures of the trucks. It’s mind-blowing what that new image has done for us.”