The Communauté de Communes Loches Sud Touraine provides drinking water and wastewater services for more than 50,000 residents in France’s Indre-et-Loire department. Its wastewater network includes 93 treatment plants and 220 pumping stations, managed directly or through agreements with its 67 member municipalities.
Recurring blockages at some pumping stations were creating a heavy maintenance burden, requiring technician time, jetting equipment and repeated site visits. Loches Sud Touraine also wanted to improve energy efficiency and find pumping solutions that could perform reliably under different hydraulic conditions across its network.
Working with Xylem, a long-standing supplier in the region, the authority identified two priority sites: Rue de Tours, the main pumping station for the municipality of Loches, and the Fourneaux pumping station in Saint-Jean-Saint-Germain.
Following Xylem’s site studies, Loches Sud Touraine began replacing conventional pumps at the two stations with Flygt Concertor® intelligent wastewater pumping systems. The installations have delivered major reductions in maintenance demands and energy use, supporting a broader rollout of Concertor pumps across the region.
Challenge
Rue de Tours and Fourneaux faced different operating challenges, but both stations experienced frequent clogging and high maintenance demands.
Rue de Tours sends wastewater directly to the Corbery treatment plant, designed for a population equivalent of 14,000. Wastewater containing fibrous material and sand caused frequent blockages and exposed pumps to abrasive wear. Before the upgrade, corrective maintenance was required once a week, typically involving jetting equipment and two technicians.
At Fourneaux, long force mains and significant friction losses created demanding hydraulic conditions and made the station particularly prone to clogging. The site needed a pumping solution that could operate efficiently as conditions changed while reducing the need for corrective maintenance.
Solution
Loches Sud Touraine installed two Flygt Concertor pumps at Rue de Tours, in 2018 and 2022, and two at Fourneaux, in 2017 and 2020.
Flygt Concertor is an intelligent wastewater pumping system designed to adapt to changing operating conditions while reducing clogging and energy use. Key capabilities include:
- Integrated pump-cleaning functions that detect and clear blockages automatically
- Adaptive N® technology that helps solids and debris pass through the pump
- Automatic adjustment of pump performance to changing operating conditions
- A broad performance range that allows duty points to be adjusted without changing the impeller or motor
At Rue de Tours, Concertor’s self-cleaning capabilities help reduce clogging, while abrasion-resistant high-chromium Hard-Iron hydraulics help limit wear from sand and other abrasive materials and maintain pumping performance over time.
At Fourneaux, Concertor gives Loches Sud Touraine the flexibility to adjust pumping performance to changing hydraulic conditions, helping improve efficiency while reducing maintenance demands.
Results
Loches Sud Touraine has achieved significant operational improvements at both pumping stations.
At Rue de Tours:
- Maintenance interventions fell 90%, from once per week to once per quarter
- Energy savings reached 25%
- Quarterly visits are now focused on routine system checks rather than corrective maintenance
At Fourneaux:
- Corrective maintenance fell from once per month to once per year
- Energy use dropped by 40%
These results demonstrate how intelligent wastewater pumping can address different operational challenges across a network while reducing maintenance demands and energy consumption.
Upgrading more pumping stations
The success of the installations at Rue de Tours and Fourneaux has supported a broader rollout of Flygt Concertor across the region.
Loches Sud Touraine now has around 20 Concertor pumps installed across its territory and plans to continue expanding their use. Future installations will prioritize the most critical pumping stations in the wastewater network, helping the authority reduce maintenance demands, improve energy efficiency and strengthen operational reliability.