“See you at The Station” A bridge over a troubled waste water lift station!
A waste water lift station failing to move the waste water to its desired discharge point and a sewage overflow occurring as a result of a pumping component failure usually is an environmental disaster.
When the sewage overflow occurs near a river or stream, the possibility of a serious health hazard to the public exists; in some cases the total drinking water supply can be affected! If such a spill occurs be prepared for the government regulatory agencies such as the Department of Environmental Quality to pay you a visit along with a few “River Watch” environmental groups and the many media organizations will want a “piece of you” also. This blog is a reminder to log the locations of all WasteWater Lift Stations that are adjacent to rivers and streams and place an asterisk next to those stations noting their critical location. Once this is done perform more oversight of these waste water lift stations as added insurance to keep sewage waste out of our waterways. All public works officials who oversee the multitude of waste water lift stations in all areas of our cities and the outlying public lands are charged with an immense responsibility in keeping them functioning properly.
How to create a safe environment for our fragile waterways and keep a good public relations bridge between the cities residents and the public officials who stand watch over waste water lift stations.
In the sub title of this blog it states “A Bridge over a Troubled Waste Water station” clearly relating to “Simon and Garfunkel’s” melodic metaphoric song of the 60s to the possibilities of troubles relating to the dark waters of a sewage spill.
In the case of a waste water lift station overflowing what is the first thing you would attempt to do as a first responder at the scene? I would hope the first thought would be how can I mitigate this spill with the least damage to the environment and of course do it safely. The first goal is to get a knowledgeable person to the site that is both a competent person as defined by OSHA and is a competent technician who is familiar with the lift station that is in distress. There are a number of reasons for a lift station to experience an SSO, Sanitary Sewer Overflow, and due to wanting to limit this article to a volume under a book we will not attempt to perform a troubleshooting guide in this blog. With the redundancy that is built in to most municipal waste water lift stations it makes one wonder why so many waste water lift stations experience failures that produce SSO’s.
“The cure for Waste Water Lift Station overflows, Simplified, a “Black Paper”!
There are a number of articles on line that spell out a nearly fail safe way to eliminate most Waste Water Lift Station failures. The “Dry Prime” pumps emergency by-pass system as designed and on occasion specified for waste water lift station is a practical and good engineering in the goal to stop SSO’s. I feel comfortable in mentioning one manufacture in my blog that I feel offers a superior option to the conventional emergency generator back-up in lieu of a power failure. The Thompson dry prime or other leading dry prime pump manufactures should have been the system of choice (as a back-up ) by rule making agencies and design professionals nearly 50 years ago when backup redundancy became the standard rule for most municipal Waste water lift stations. If the Patent EZZ-Klean™ tube is utilized in the waste water lift station you already have the necessary component for sewage transfer under an emergency overflow situation. IE a stationary suction tube that you can hook onto safely and quickly in a sometime panicked situation. The EZZ-Klean™ system is a 1-2 punch to knock out SSO’s while its presence encourages periodic cleaning. The EZZ-Klean™ is available through Oldcastle concrete in Wilsonville and now in Portland with the acquisition of Hanson’s Concrete manhole division, in the greater Portland area.
The bridge to pristine waters that BMP, Best Maintainence Practices will take us to is worth the extra maintenance effort. As an engineer or public works official show you serious about protecting the environment from the possibility of a sewer overflow by specifying a Thompson Dry Prime Pump Backup option along with the easy adapt EZZ-Klean™ system. Continue to read the blog “See you at the station” for more helpful tips on operating your Waste Water Lift Stations that gives you visions of bridges over beautiful, clean and clear waters.
