Wastewater network pumping systems are only a small part of the sewer network, yet they have a disproportionate impact on the performance of many sewerage systems, due to poor hydraulic performance, poor reliability, odour complaints, bacterial corrosion and short asset lives . The environmental impact of failures is also high, with a high proportion of them leading to serious pollution and prosecution.
Reliability problems and poor performance of network pumping installations are often caused, or exacerbated by, ill-informed decisions taken right at the start of the planning stage. Design changes during construction that are not properly considered by the designers, and subsequent changes are also a major cause of failures as are poorly considered upgrading or refurbishment schemes.
To help to address the problem, the Water Research Centre (WRc) is publishing a new manual which describes the complete design process, pointing out the implications of each decision. Resilience is considered at each stage with the development of contingency plan a key part of the design process.
This seminar will outline the common causes of many of the problems experienced with wastewater pumping systems as well as providing an overview of the new manual and the significant changes to approach that are advocated by it.