A pumping project can appear straightforward on paper: water arrives at a specific location and must be pumped to another. However there are a variety of variables which can influence the distance between two locations, such as elevation of the ground, flow rate, solids, pressure, storage capacity and maintenance access.
Image credit: romtecutilities.com
For Romtec Utilities, designing a pump station begins by defining those operating conditions rather than selecting equipment from a standard catalog. Design concepts and budgetary information are then developed based on what the actual requirements of the project are.
The first step is to ask What are we doing?
The design is instantly changed.
The flow of wastewater in the domestic system is subject to significant daily variations. A wastewater lift facility must transport the wastewater in a reliable manner whenever gravity conveyance isn’t available or is insufficient. Engineers should therefore take into consideration expected inflow, peak conditions and pumping capacities, wet well behavior, discharge requirements and how the equipment will operate and maintained.
Diverse challenges arise from industrial water. Fluids that are caustic, oily or that have high temperatures or pressures might be required by a manufacturing or processing facility. Romtec Utilities creates industrial systems that are used in applications that range from data centers to installations for oil and gas as well as food processing power generation, as well as pharmaceutical waste.
Rainfall creates a completely different Operating Cycle
Stormwater systems can spend long periods handling little activity, but then they can face massive volume during a storm.
A stormwater lift station associated with a detention basin, for example, must work with the site’s larger drainage strategy. The runoff enters the basin for detention, and the temporary storage manages the immediate volume and the pumping system moves the collected water to an approved discharge point.
Romtec Utilities offered this type of solution to the Norco, California business park. The pumping system was needed to empty the detention basin and discharge it into the stormwater network. The station had to be designed as a component of the drainage infrastructure for the development, rather than as an independent piece of equipment.
“Package” Doesn’t Need to Mean Off-the-Shelf
There is a widespread misconception that a pumping system for packages is merely a collection of components that are predetermined.
Packaging is a method to coordinate the major elements of a system that is designed for a specific project. Pumps, valves, meters and controls, communications structural elements, and more equipment are able to be selected based on the necessary duty requirements.
This strategy is especially useful when the new system needs to be connected with an existing infrastructure. Industrial plants and existing municipal facilities rarely offer unlimited area or pristine installation conditions. It may be necessary to modify equipment in order to fit into existing structures, piping electrical systems, schedules and schedules.
Capacity Planning Has Real Consequences
It is especially costly when facilities grow.
At Portland International Airport, Romtec Utilities provided a sewer interceptor lift station to support the PDX Next expansion. The new station needed been designed to have twice the capacity for peak flow as the airport expanded.
This illustration illustrates an important engineering concept: Design conditions must not be limited to the amount of work a facility is able to manage on a typical afternoon. Engineers must be aware of what happens during peak demand.
The Job isn’t Complete When the Equipment Arrives
At some point, drawings and calculations will need to be transformed into an operational system. Coordination of installation, starting, testing, documentation, and operator comprehension all play a role in long-term performance.
The time between construction and the success of an engineered pumping system is measured. When flows increase when a major storm hits or equipment requires repair, the decisions made during preliminary design are evident.
For Romtec Utilities, integrating those decisions into a complete specific pumping program helps turn each piece of equipment into infrastructure designed to handle the conditions they will be facing.