Pumping station

[edit] Introduction

A pumping station is a facility designed to draw and transfer fluids (such as water or sewage) from one location to another. This may be required in low lying areas when the location of the facility prevents the use of just gravity to lift the fluids for distribution.

Pumping stations are sometimes called pumphouses (when associated with irrigation systems or drilled wells), package pumping stations or packaged pumping stations (when used to describe private pumping stations) or lift stations (when describing systems designed for pumping waste or sewage). A pumping station may also be part of a hydroelectric facility.

[edit] Types of pumping stations

Pumping stations can be installed in situations such as; housing estates, healthcare or education campuses, commercial sites, industrial parks and so on. They may even be used for personal residences (such as in situations where a sewer passes over an incline). Depending on their application, facilities may use components including pumps, tanks (also referred to as collection chambers or wet wells), float switches, controllers, pipework and other mechanical devices.

[edit] Canal water supplies

In situations where the location of the canal may not be able to reliably maintain the water levels needed to operate the locks, pumping stations may be used to draw water from other locations into the higher levels of the canals. Pumping stations may also be used to transport water from the low locks to the upper locks. This type of arrangement may be referred to as a back pumping system.

[edit] Land drainage

Water pumping stations are sometimes used to drain water from low lying areas that would otherwise be saturated and unsuitable for agriculture. This method may be deployed due to challenges brought on by elevation factors that prevent the use of canals.

[edit] Wastewater pumping stations

These systems are designed to transport waste or sewage material. The material is collected in a chamber (or wet well) until it reaches the level where the pump is activated.

[edit] Private pumping stations

These systems were once used by privately run developments or associations to transport surface water or waste water to a higher elevation.

In 2010, the Government decided that most private pumping stations that form part of the sewer or lateral drain systems that connect to the public sewer network should be transferred to the ownership of the regulated sewerage companies in England and Wales. The deadline for these transfers (referred to as pumping station adoptions) was October 2016.

Ref [[w/index.php?title=W/index.php%3Ftitle%3DW/index.php%3Ftitle%3DW/index.php%3Ftitle%3DW/index.php%3Ftitle%3DRef_https://www.ofwat.gov.uk/publications/transfer-of-private-sewers/%26action%3Dedit%26redlink%3D1%26action%3Dedit%26redlink%3D1%26action%3Dedit%26redlink%3D1%26action%3Dedit%26redlink%3D1&action=edit&redlink=1|https://www.ofwat.gov.uk/publications/transfer-of-private-sewers/]]

[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings

• Civil Engineering during the Industrial Revolution in Britain.
• Filtration.
• How canals work.
• Ofwat.
• Sewerage.
• Thames tideway tunnel
• The redevelopment of Leicester's sewerage system by Joseph Gordon.
• Water Industry (Scotland) Act 2002.
• Water pressure.

[edit] External resources

• Ofwat, Transfer of private sewers.