On paper, the process may seem straightforward: water is pumped into a different location. In real life the distance between those two points may be subject to shifting flow rates, elevation differences and solids, pressure requirements, storage capacity, controls electrical equipment, access to maintenance and site restrictions.

Romtec Utilities’ way of developing a pump station is to define the operating conditions. This is followed by selecting equipment. The project’s requirements can be used to create sketches and budgetary details.

Image credit: romtecutilities.com

Start with a simple question: Where are we doing?

The engineering is changed immediately.

Domestic sewage is often contaminated with solids and show significant variations in daily flow. If gravity conveyance fails or is not sufficient an wastewater lift station is needed to move the wastewater. Engineers must therefore consider expected inflow, peak conditions the capacity of pumping, wet-well behaviour, discharge requirements and how the equipment will be operated and maintained.

Many challenges can be encountered by industrial water. Processing or manufacturing facilities could require moving high-temperature, caustic and oily or high-pressure liquids. Romtec Utilities designs systems for industrial applications that range from food processing to power generation, databases, pharmaceutical waste and oil and gasoline facilities.

Rainfall may create a completely different operating pattern

Stormwater systems can be inactive for long periods but then suddenly they have to deal with massive volumes in the course of a major storm.

A stormwater lift station linked with a detention basin for instance, has to work alongside the drainage plan. The runoff enters the detention basin. The temporary storage system manages the immediate volume and the pumping system moves the water collected to an approved discharge point.

Romtec Utilities supplied this type of solution for a company park development in Norco, California. The project required a pumping system to discharge a basin of detention into the stormwater system of the public. The station needed to be designed as a part of the drainage infrastructure that is part of the development, not as an independent piece of equipment.

Package Does Not Signify “Off the Shelf”

A common misconception is that a package pumping system is simply a predetermined collection of components.

In the case of engineered infrastructure packaging may refer to the fact that all of the main components are integrated into one system. The valves and pumps can be determined based on the duty specifications.

This approach is especially helpful in situations where the new system has to be linked with an existing infrastructure. In industrial plants and municipal buildings, there’s usually any space at all or a totally clean space for installation. Equipment may have to be placed around existing piping, structures, electrical systems, and operational schedules.

Capacity planning can have real-world consequences

If facilities are growing, undersizing is particularly expensive.

Romtec Utilities, a Portland International Airport utility company, developed and built the sewer interceptor station for the PDX Next project. The new station is designed to increase the capacity at peak flows of the existing system because airport facilities are expanding.

It illustrates a crucial engineering principle: design conditions should not reflect only the way a facility is able to handle during a typical afternoon. Engineers also need to understand the impact of high demand.

The Job Isn’t Finished When the Equipment is delivered

At the point where drawings and calculations have to become an operational system. Installation coordination, startup testing documentation, and operator knowledge all affect long-term performance.

A well-engineered pumping system will ultimately be defined by the results that take place years after construction. The decisions made during initial design phase are evident when flows increase, major storms arrive or when maintenance is needed.

For Romtec Utilities, integrating these decisions into a complete project-specific pumping system helps transform individual pieces of equipment into infrastructure that is designed to meet the demands they’ll be confronted with.