Contractor solves disposal problem by pumping slurry to nearby agricultural land

An environmental solution to the problem of how to dispose of dredging material is used by California contractor. Powerful pumps aid in transporting slurry for deposit by injection into local farmland.

When a major environmental firm was awarded a contract to dredge a large settling pond located at a Northern California sanitation district, it was faced with the dilemma of what to do with the dredged material. The pond contained about 160-acre feet of unwanted material consisting of water and sludge.

The firm decided to dredge the pond, filter the sludge and pump the resulting slurry to a nearby agricultural field for injection into the soil. The processing system decided upon consisted of a dredge, screen filter, settling tanks, Power Prime HH250 pump and four miles of victaulic style aluminum pipe supplied by Rain for Rent.

Slurry pumped four miles to fields
Once the contractor had dredged the material and screened it to remove solids, it then pumped the slurry into three bi-level storage tanks. The Power Prime HH250 (160 psi at 5000 gpm) then pumped the slurry two miles to a Power Prime HH150 pump (140 psi at 2250 gpm). From there, the Power Prime HH150 pumped the slurry another two miles to the field injection site where the contractor injected the slurry into the ground.

More than 500 acres of agricultural ground, which is being used to grow forage crops, has been used to receive such slurry.

For more information on the pumps, go the Rain for Rent storefront.

Edited by Joyce Everhart
Managing Editor, Public Works Online
jeverhart@vertical.net