Sewerage and Sewage Treatment

by Harold E. Babbitt

69. Reliability.—If the only outlet from a sewerage system is through a pumping station, the inability of the pumps to handle all of the sewage delivered to them may so back up the sewage as to flood streets and basements, endangering lives and health and destroying property. Such an occurrence should be guarded against by providing sufficient pumping capacity and machinery of the greatest reliability.

70. Equipment.—The equipment of a sewage pumping station, in addition to pumping machinery, may include a grit chamber, a screen, and a receiving well. The grit chamber and screen are necessary to protect the pumps from wear and clogging. Grit chambers are not necessary in sewage devoid of gritty matter, such as the average domestic sewage, unless reciprocating pumps are used. Sufficient gritty matter is found in average domestic sewage to have an undesirable effect on reciprocating pumps. Receiving wells are used in small pumping stations where the capacity of the pumps is greater than the average rate of sewage flow. The pumps are then operated intermittently, the pumps standing idle during the time that the receiving well is filling.

Except for a few types of pumps of which the valve openings are unsuitable, any machine capable of pumping water is capable of pumping sewage which has been properly screened. The principles of sewage pumps are then similar to principles of water pumps. The conditions under which these principles are applied differ but slightly in the character of the liquid, and a smaller range of discharge pressures. Pumps with large passages, discharging under low heads are more commonly found among sewage pumps.

Fig. 49.—Calumet Sewage Pumping Station, Chicago, Illinois.

71. The Building.—The pumping station should, if possible, be of pleasing design and should be surrounded by attractive grounds. The Calumet Sewage Pumping Station in Chicago is shown in Fig. 49. Its architecture is pleasing particularly in contrast with its location and immediate surroundings. Such structures tend to remove the popular prejudice from sewerage and to arouse interest in sewerage questions. Service to the public is of value. It can be rendered more easily by arousing public interest and cooperation by the erection of attractive structures, than by feeding popular prejudice by the construction of miserable eyesores.

72. Capacity of Pumps.—The capacity of the pumping equipment should be sufficient to care for the maximum quantity of sewage delivered to it, with the largest pumping unit shut down, and the provision of such additional capacity as, in the opinion of the designer, will provide the necessary factor of safety.

Pumps can usually be operated under more or less overload. Power pumps and centrifugal pumps driven by constant speed electric motors have no overload capacity. A power pump or a centrifugal pump may be overloaded up to the maximum horse-power of any variable speed motor or steam engine driving it, provided the pump has been designed to permit it. Direct-acting steam pumps which are designed for proper piston speed and valve action at normal loads, can carry a 50 per cent overload for short periods, although the strain on the pump is great. They will carry a 20 to 25 per cent overload for about eight hours with less vibration and strain. The use of pumps capable of working at an appreciable overload is somewhat of an additional factor of safety, but the overload factor should not be taken into consideration in determining the capacity of the pumping equipment.

The load on a pumping station consists of the quantity of sewage to be pumped and the height it must be lifted. Variations in the quantity are discussed in Chapter III. The head against which the pumps must operate fluctuates with the level in the tributary sewer or pump well, and in the discharge conduit. For a free discharge or discharge into a short force main the greater the rate of sewage flow the smaller the lift, as the depth of flow in the tributary sewer increases more rapidly than that in the discharge conduit. If the discharge is into a large body of water or under other conditions where the discharge head is approximately constant, the fluctuations in total head should not exceed the diameter of the tributary sewer. Such fluctuations are of minor importance in the operation of direct-acting steam pumps, but may be of great importance in the operation of centrifugal pumps, as is brought out in Art. 78.

73. Capacity of Receiving Well.—The use of receiving wells is restricted to small installations which require, in addition to the standby unit, only one pump, the capacity of which is equal to the maximum rate of sewage flow. When the receiving well has been pumped dry the pump stops, allowing the well to fill again. Although the use of a large receiving well, or an equalizing reservoir, for a large pumping station would permit the operation of the pumps under more economical conditions, the storage of sewage for the length of time required would not be feasible. The sewage would probably become septic, creating odors and corroding the pumps. The extra cost of the reservoir might not compensate for the saving in the capacity and operation of the pumps.