Before hydro jetting sewer pipe obstructions were cleared by a tool called a snake. A snake is a long flexible tube with a cutting head attached. A motor turns a flexible shaft inside the tube, attached to the cutting head. The equipment is heavy and cumbersome, requiring a truck to transport. With hydro jetting, all the bulk is eliminated. All that's needed is a long high pressure hose with a nozzle at the end, and the hose is fed into the pipe. The high pressure water jet quickly clears the obstruction.
NASA in collaboration with the company UltraStrip developed a system using high pressure water streams to strip paint off ships. Using water to strip paint has several advantages. The toxic paint dust produced by traditional sandblasting is eliminated by hydro jetting. Hydro jetting equipment is lighter than sandblasting gear. A hydro jetting system uses a robot that clings to the hull of the ship, by using magnetic wheels eliminating the need for an operator required with sandblasting.
Many laypersons mistakenly think petroleum mining is simply drilling a hole in the ground and sucking up the petroleum like a drink through a straw. In reality, the process is far harder. Petroleum is often trapped in the surrounding bedrock and extraction is difficult. Thomas Guengerich reported in July of 2010 that the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology received a federal grant to study hydro jetting of the surrounding subsurface bedrock. The bedrock is broken apart by high pressure streams of water to free the petroleum.
Hydro jetting may also be used for cutting. In one process invented in 1970, a stream of water, about an eighth the thickness of a hair, is pressurized up to 80,000 pounds per square inch. Fine garnet powder may be added to aid the cutting. The water cuts such as marble slabs, glass, or ceramics with ease, according to a University of Florida report. Another advantage of hydro jet cutting is cuts out metal shapes such as gears far faster than using conventional machining methods, such as sawing and milling.