In another city, in the Northwestern portion of the country, it is a waste water plant that is undergoing serious evaluation.  It may be necessary to pay several hundred thousand dollars to update the pump because the current system is flow deficient.  Furthermore, the outdated system requires two service technicians to be present whenever repairs or maintenance are necessary.  The potential for exposure to toxic gas fumes could cause serious harm or fatality to a worker.  So, a second person must be present to assist in case of emergency.

The repairs would be made to the pump, but also the service holes, but the decision has not been made yet.  This proposal has been on the table for nearly three years.  Unfortunately, until the issue is addressed, the pumping station is operating with a pump that is not properly sized for the job being completed.  It cannot keep up with the demands, unable to provide enough force to pump the necessary amount of waste water.  That means that it is allow to build up and could ultimately cause a very serious situation.

Assuming that they do update the pump, there should be new controls installed as well.  There should be sensors in place that alert to issues with the pump.  A submersible level transmitter for instance, could provide instance feedback on what is happening at the transfer station.  The facility operator could simply get an alarm that would indicate that the pump is not working properly and could react quicker to potential issues. Also, data would be available to the technician for the purpose of fine tuning the system.  This would allow the technicians to better understand how the overall system is operating and what other changes could be made to help better the performance of the pump transfer station.