Take the Guess Work out of Flow Measurement
Think back to that last bypass project you worked on. One 6-inch diesel driven pump with 6-inch suction and discharge hose that ran for 8 hours. You think you pumped 480,000 Gallons (1,000-gal/min X 60-min/hr x 8hr) during that time frame, or did you? The Godwin Dri-Prime is capable of running dry indefinitely due our mechanical shaft seals running in a liquid bath. So were you really "pumping" for the whole 8 hours that the engine ran? Operating your pump and calculating flowrate this way can cost you money in fuel usage and possibly even more if your bypass requires flowrate for payment or for fines.
Recently, one of our customers was faced with this exact problem. They needed to effectively calculate flowrate to reduce fine fees due to bypass pumping. During and following rain events, wastewater flows often exceed the hydraulic capacity of the collection system. This leads to the discharge of untreated wastewater to the receiving water body. Under New York State's Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) "Sewage Pollution Right to Know" law, discharges of untreated and partially treated sewage are to be reported by publicly owned treatment works (POTWs) and publicly owned sewer systems (POSSs) within two hours of discovery to DEC.
Xylem's municipality customer installed new trunk sewer lines that had enough capacity to avoid untreated discharging. However, some older sewer lines were not connected to the new trunk line, so untreated discharging was still occurring.
The Municipality was using portable pumps to discharge untreated wastewater. They would report the amount discharged by roughly calculating Engine Run Hours by Pump Capacity. The town would then be fined by NYS DEC by total discharge amount of untreated wastewater.
The Town came to Xylem to come up with a solution that would pump untreated wastewater and accurately calculate the total discharge amount. Xylem presented the town with both 4" & 6" RGT Diesel Pumps with Field Smart Technology (FST) and Flowmeters. By using Level transducers and FST, the town was able to leave the units unmanned because they had the ability to remotely monitor and control the pumps from their central office. The capabilities of FST and Flowmeters allowed the town to report the exact timestamp of when bypass occurred and how much was discharged.
The solution that Xylem provided has enabled the municipality to accurately and efficiently report discharge of untreated wastewater to NYS DEC. The ability to use this reporting has saved the town money from DEC fines. The capabilities of FST's remote monitoring and control has also saved the town money in man hours and has allowed them to deploy their limited resources to the most need emergencies.
Contact your local Xylem branch to learn more about how our Monitoring and Control capabilities can help your municipality accurately measure flowrate data.