On paper, the idea of a pumping project might appear straightforward. Water is required to be pumped from one place to another. In real life the distance between those two points could be a matter of changing rate of flow, elevation differences as well as solids, pressure requirements, storage capacity, electric equipment, maintenance access and restrictions on the site.
Romtec Utilities begins the design of the pumping station by defining these operational conditions, instead of selecting equipment from the catalog. Initial plans and budgetary specifications can be designed based on what the needs of the project.
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Start with a simple question: Where are we doing?
The answer changes immediately the technology.
Domestic sewage may contain solids, and can experience a variety of variations in the daily flow. A wastewater lift station must move that wastewater reliably when gravity conveyance is unavailable or insufficient. Engineers must take into account the following: expected inflow and peak conditions, pumping capability, wet well behavior discharge requirements and how equipment is operated and maintained.
Industrial water has its own challenges. The fluids used in a processing or manufacturing facility may require caustic, oily, or heated at high temperature or pressure. Romtec Utilities creates industrial systems which are utilized in applications from data centers to installations of oil and gas as well as food processing, power generation, and pharmaceutical waste.
Rainfall may create a completely distinct operating cycle
Stormwater systems are often inactive for prolonged periods of time and then suddenly confront the possibility of a huge volume in an event.
For example, a stormwater lift station that is associated with a detention basin must be compatible with the drainage plan for the site. The basin is filled with runoff and storage in temporary mode controls the immediate volume and a pumping system then moves the water that is collected to an approved discharge point.
Romtec Utilities supplied this type of solution to a business park in Norco, California. This project needed a pumping device to drain a detention basin into the stormwater system of the public. The station was designed to function as a part of the drainage system used by a developer and not as a separate piece of equipment.
“Package” Doesn’t Need to mean Off-the-Shelf
It is a popular misconception that a pumping mechanism for packages is simply a set of predetermined components.
For engineered infrastructure, packaging could mean coordinating all the major pieces into one particular project-specific system. Meters, pumps, valves and controls, communications structural elements, as well as other equipment can be selected around the necessary duty requirements.
This method is particularly useful in situations where the new system has to be connected with an existing infrastructure. Municipal and industrial plants facilities rarely offer unlimited space or even clean installation conditions. Equipment might need to be positioned around existing piping, structures as well as electrical systems and operational plans.
The Real Costs of Capacity Planning
The price of undersizing goes up when the facility grows.
In Portland International Airport, Romtec Utilities provided the sewer interceptor station for the PDX Next expansion. The new station is designed to increase the capacity of peak flow of the existing system as airport facilities grow.
This illustrates an important concept of engineering: specifications for the design should not just reflect what an installation handles during an average afternoon. Engineers also have to be aware what happens during high demand.
The Work isn’t Done until the Equipment arrives
Then, drawings and calculations will eventually become a functioning system. Installation coordination, startup and testing, documentation and understanding are all vital for the long-term performance.
A well-engineered pumping system is ultimately determined by the events that occur after the construction. The decisions made in the initial design are obvious when the flow increases when major storms occur or when maintenance is needed.
For Romtec Utilities, integrating these decisions into a complete project-specific pumping system helps transform each piece of equipment into infrastructure that is designed to meet the demands it will actually face.