Romtec Utilities» Stormwater Pumping

Natural Treatment System Revisited

Dave — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 19:36:47 +0000

Edge of El Modena Park basin before plants grew in

Storm basin pump station performs during wet California winter.

Folks at Irvine Ranch Irrigation District (IRWD) in Orange County, Calif. are pleased with the performance of the El Modena Park storm basin, part of the San Diego Creek Natural Treatment System (www.naturaltreatmentsystem.org), a regional approach to treating urban runoff. In the first wet winter experience with the storm basin, some lessons have been learned while achieving nitrate removal.

During precipitation, runoff in the nearby flood control channel is diverted into the park’s man-made wetland. Besides reducing the direct flow into San Joaquin Marsh in the upper reach of Newport Bay, the constructed wetland is designed to naturally cleanse urban runoff before it reenters the channel. Plants at the perimeter of the basin help remove nitrates and other pollutants from the water. Keeping the water at just the right level for these plants to thrive, a key factor in biofiltration system’s success, is the job of the Romtec Utilities duplex submersible stormwater pumping system installed in 2008.

[pullquote]“Over the last year, we have seen a 79% nitrate removal rate…” [/pullquote]When the water in the basin reaches a certain level, the lift station starts one of its pumps. At the same time, the control panel sends a radio signal to the basin’s slide gate, instructing it to stay open. The pumps move the “clean” water out of the basin and into the nearby drainage channel, while the pond’s water level is maintained. The 1.2-million-gallon pond is sized so the water is cycled about every 14 days, thus providing optimum time for biofiltration to occur.

Panorama view of pumping system at one end of stormwater treatment basin

During large storm events, the pond and the area around it are allowed to be completely flooded as the water level rises. The wet well is designed to be flooded during these occasions as well, and the pumps automatically shut down. After the storm, the pumps are allowed to operate normally, draining the wetland to its “normal” level so the biofiltration function can continue.

Flood control channel alongside El Modena Park

The natural treatment system has been in place for just over a year. Unusually heavy rains during the 2009-’10 winter caused some unexpected erosion around the basin’s inlet structure, but the pumping equipment at the other end of the basin was not affected.

In general, the system has performed well. “The focus of the system is to remove nitrates from the water—to treat it in the watershed before it goes down to the ocean,” says Lou Denger, IRWD’s wetland field operations supervisor. “Over the last year, we have seen a 79% nitrate removal rate, with a total number of 1,200 pounds removed. That definitely meets our expectations.”

Click here to read more about this project in WaterWorld online.

Distribution warehouse gets submersible sewage pump station

Dave — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 03:37:50 +0000

Distribution warehouse pump station collects combined sanitary sewer, storm runoff and, potentially, water from the building's fire suppression sprinklers.

Pumping system handles combined sanitary sewer, stormwater and potential fire suppression system water.

Romtec Utilities recently supplied a sewage lift station to the new 750,000 square foot Ferguson Enterprises Regional Distribution Center built on the site of a former US Navy facility in Stockton, Calif. Thomas Graham Civil Design Group was the project engineer and pm2i was general contractor.

Romtec supplied all structural, mechanical, electrical andtelemetry systems in the station, which features a 6’ dia. pre-cast concrete wet well to collect the combined sanitary sewer and stormwater runoff, as well as potential drainage from the building’s fire suppression sprinkler system. Also included in the complete system are a pre-assembled valve vault and all ductile piping, U.L. listed electrical controls and SCADA, and two ITT Flygt submersible pumps that discharge through a 4” dia. force main to the municipal gravity sewer.

Urban Stormwater Retrofit Projects – reprinted from Stormwater, Sept. 2008

Dave — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 19:55:03 +0000

Complete Romtec Utilities Stormwater Pump station

The stormwater professionals interviewed for this story agreed that it’s a positive trend, and healthy for residents and the environment that municipalities are putting an increased emphasis on treating runoff in urban areas.

Manufacturers and municipal officials also agreed that this segment of the industry will continue to grow as federal treatment regulations grow ever stricter.

“The underlying mantra of ‘treat it all’ is driving the development of stormwater treatment in urban areas,” says Mark Sheldon of Romtec Utilities in Roseberg, OR. Sheldon’s company makes complete stormwater pumping systems that are often used in urban projects.

“The requirement to handle stormwater and to pump stormwater has always been there,” he says. “But there was a time when a tremendous amount of stormwater was allowed to just run off into creeks or the lake or into the ocean. That is no longer the case. Now, whenever you are building something new, or whenever you are working on a retrofit project, you have to treat all the stormwater runoff before letting it discharge into another body of water. This is a good thing, and it is making retrofit a more important part of the stormwater treatment business.”

For evidence of the growing importance of urban stormwater work to the industry, Sheldon needs only to look at his own company. Romtec has three main markets for its submersible pumps: wastewater, industrial, and stormwater.

Five years ago, the stormwater portion of Romtec’s business was about a quarter as large as was the company’s industrial sector, Sheldon says. Today, Romtec’s pump sales for stormwater uses are nearly as large as they are for industrial work.

“Whether it be rerouting stormwater to traditional wastewater treatment plants, or whether it be the onsite treatment of potentially polluted stormwater, we are now seeing it mandated in one form or another that all runoff must be treated,” he says. “The requirements to treat stormwater—in urban areas, too—grows greater and greater, and reaches all of us. Water is our precious resource.”

While the increase in business is undoubtedly positive for stormwater professionals, urban retrofit projects are not always easy tasks. Treating stormwater runoff and installing BMPs that are effective can prove challenging when projects are tackled in crowded urban areas where space is often limited.

An Innovative Solution to Building Capacity – reprint from Stormwater Solutions

Dave — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 19:50:47 +0000

3D view of Union City, Calif. stormwater pump station

Lift station, detention pond make Union City development possible

- By Megan Monson
Three years ago, officials in Union City, Calif., got some good news—and some bad news. The good news was that a developer was interested in building two major residential developments near the center of the city. The bad news? The storm drainage infrastructure in that area, the Line M channel, did not have the capacity to handle the additional runoff that the new construction would generate.

Ownership issues complicated the situation. The property slated for development was within Union City borders, but Alameda County was responsible for Line M, a concrete-lined open drainage channel that runs through the center of the city. With Line M at capacity, there was no way of discharging additional storm water, and that meant no development of any kind on the Union City site.

Simple but innovative

A collaboration between Union City and Alameda County resulted in a simple but innovative solution—a detention pond that worked in concert with a pre-engineered storm water lift station. The pond stores water during storm events. Afterward, when the storm is over and the water level in the storm water channel goes down, a Romtec Utilities lift station pumps the water back into Line M.

“It was a very welcome solution to the developers, because otherwise there would not be a development,” said Carlos Jocson, city engineer. “It was actually somewhat innovative—because of the pumping station and the detention system, we were able to allow this to happen.”

Aerial view of 11th St. stormwater detention & pumping project

The housing development is sited on a 20-acre piece of land previously used as an industrial site. Developers envisioned a cluster of 200 units of single-family dwellings on the south side of the site. To the north, another 200 units of multi-family town homes were planned.

The city began by building the 20-million-gal detention basin in the center of the development area. Then a 42-in. line was placed between the basin and the Line M storm drainage channel.

The lift station came in during the 11th Street Extension, a street-widening project that involved constructing a four-lane roadway to provide access to the housing developments.

San Jose, Calif., engineering firm Mark Thomas & Co. contacted Romtec Utilities with the parameters of the 11th Street lift station job. The Roseburg, Ore., company provides pre-engineered submersible lift stations for both wastewater and storm water. Engineers at Romtec Utilities configured the lift station, providing AutoCAD drawings, summary materials specifications and a detailed quotation for the job, which then went out to bid. The winning bidder was Santa Clara-based Anderson Pacific Engineering.

“We’ve done a lot of pump stations—built them ourselves—but this was the first pre-engineered station I’ve done,” said Matthew Mirenda, Anderson Pacific’s engineer on the project.

One-stop shop

The pre-engineered concept is a relatively new one in the lift-station industry. Storm water lift stations are traditionally created one at a time, requiring lengthy design work, a multitude of vendors and arduous onsite construction for each station.

With the pre-engineered approach, one company takes care of the entire process, from design, quotation and submittals to construction and start-up. Complete standardized systems are configured to meet each agency’s requirements, and the entire lift station and all components arrive at the jobsite in a single shipment ready for installation. For Union City, the pre-engineered lift station’s most compelling advantage was speed.

“The project had a short fuse on it, and the pre-engineered lift station worked well for us that way,” Mirenda said. “While we were digging the hole for the wet well, someone at Romtec Utilities was building the station. When the system arrived, all we had to do was drop it in.”

The lift station includes all of the structural, mechanical, electrical and communications systems needed. Besides the preliminary engineering data, specifications and O&M manual, Romtec Utilities supplied the pre-cast wet well with self-cleaning basin and integrated pump discharge fittings; the pre-cast top slab with safe hatch and integrated well vent/cable trench; duplex pumps with liquid level sensor and pump lifting apparatus; pre-assembled valve vault with plug valves, check valves and pressure gauge; UL listed control panel and pump disconnect panel; and the standby generator and automatic transfer switch. Duplex submersible pumps for the project were supplied by ITT Flygt.

The entire system was delivered to the 11th Street site in two trucks and installed in two days, well ahead of schedule. “The work with Romtec went really great and we ended up being a month ahead of where we thought we’d be,” Mirenda said.

Efficient operation

[pullquote]“It kind of solved all the problems we had,” Jocson said. “Thanks to the pump station and thanks to the big hole in the ground, we were able to allow the development.”[/pullquote]The detention basin and lift station have been in operation for just over a year and are performing to expectation. “The lift station has been effective,” said Richard Sealana, the city’s public works director. “It’s doing just what we wanted it to do.”

Today, when Line M fills up during a storm event, it drains into the detention basin through the 42-in. line. When it’s time to drain the pond back into the flood channel, operators come out to the site to power up the station with the Cummins standby generator. Once the generator is on, the level monitoring system controls on/off starts of the Flygt duplex pumps. Grid power will soon be connected to the site, thus eliminating a future need for the generator.

Building for the future

Union City officials consider the detention pond-lift station combination as a “mid-term” solution to the drainage issue. They plan to eventually build a highway through the area where the detention pond sits now, requiring construction of another, much larger lift station.

“The water that collects there will be put into a wet well and then pumped into a pipe system that will eventually discharge to another channel, not Line M,” Jocson said.

The detention pond and lift station proved to be an effective solution to the problem faced by the city when it came to accommodating developers.

“It kind of solved all the problems we had,” Jocson said. “Thanks to the pump station and thanks to the big hole in the ground, we were able to allow the development.”

Stormwater Pump Station – Franklin Park, IL

Dave — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 19:50:30 +0000

Romtec Utilities stormwater pump station in Franklin Park, Illinois

The village of Franklin Park, Ill. is home to about 20,000 people and includes the fourth largest industrial area in the state. Grand Avenue is a main east-west route between the area south of O’Hare International Airport and Chicago to the east. Rail lines intersecting Grand Ave. include the only north-south route of the Canadian Pacific Railway and the Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad. Dozens of trains cross Grand Ave. every day.

Municipal leaders have been working for nearly 50 years to build an underpass designed to alleviate the traffic congestion at railroad crossings along Grand Avenue. “It was a horrible backup problem that impacted every driver on the road,” says David Talbot of Clark Dietz Engineers, who serves as the village engineer. In one spot, for example, two sets of railroad tracks were placed a thousand feet apart, which created safety and emergency services issues when traffic was stuck between them.

These efforts came to fruition recently with the completion of a construction project that separates rail and road with a below-grade underpass on Grand Avenue. Three rail lines now pass over the street on a wide steel bridge, improving safety and eliminating traffic delays.[pullquote]“We had a high water alarm, and nothing overflowed,” Talbot says. “Everything worked the way it was intended to.”[/pullquote]

An integral part of the project was a strategy to prevent surface and stormwater from collecting in the low area created by the underpass. “A half-mile of the road drains into the low point at the bridge,” Talbot explains, “and we also had to plan for flood events.”

Romtec Uitlities stormwater pump station - Grand Ave. Franklin Park Ill.

Rainwater is collected by a storm drain consisting of 330 feet of 6×12-foot box culverts, set in three rows. “You can stand up and walk in them,” Talbot says of the large-capacity culverts.

This runoff flows through an underground drain line into the 6-foot wet well of a Romtec Utilities’ pre-engineered lift station, located alongside the street. Inside the wet well, a pair of ITT Flygt 10 Hp submersible pumps lift the stormwater to the combined sewer system, which provides partially separated channels for sanitary sewage and stormwater runoff. If the sewer system becomes surcharged during a storm event, the pump station is designed to shut down and then restart when the water flow returns to normal.

The lift station has a permanent onsite generator with an automatic transfer switch, ensuring an uninterruptible power supply in case of electrical outages.

Franklin Park has had one big storm since the overpass was built, giving the stormwater management system a good workout. “The lift station went through every alarm parameter it was designed for, and everything operated perfectly,” Talbot says.

The pump station stopped when the sewer system surcharged, and started back up when levels went back to normal. When the site lost power, the backup generator started and switched operations over. “We had a high water alarm, and nothing overflowed,” Talbot says. “Everything worked the way it was intended to.”