The Future of Pump Station Planning and Rehab

Many of the sewer pump stations originally constructed in the 1970s and 80s are approaching the end of their life cycle for portions of, or in some cases the entire, facility.  The national economic trend appears to be resulting in municipal revenue filtering down to the CIP budgeting process. Many municipalities have elected to rehabilitate or reconstruct critical sewer system pump stations to address aging infrastructure.

Once funding is available for these projects, the municipality has a number of items to address. Bypass pumping, during emergency operations as well as during station reconstruction, should be a priority. An initial accounting of the existing facility should consider operational staff input as well as existing facility attributes such as valve configuration and bypass suction and discharge points. Many developer-constructed facilities lack sound bypass capabilities.

This presentation explores the planning for and construction of pump station rehabilitation, including the following subjects: structure(s) rehab vs replacement options, bypass connection upgrades, data collection to estimate temporary bypass equipment capacity, options to improve bypass pumping, and control redundancy, and consultant/public works teaming during construction to reduce construction observation budget.