No More Manual Raking For Operators For City Of Tampa, FL At The Louisiana Pump Station
Welcome to Tampa, FL
The city of Tampa is a colorful metropolis located on the western coast of Florida, part of an inlet cradling the Gulf Coast. In addition to being a major business and commercial hub, Tampa is known as a cultural and entertainment destination with its museums, clubs, and restaurants that pay tribute to its rich Cuban heritage. With year-round sunshine, shimmering waterfront, and warm hospitality, Tampa is truly a city with something for everyone.
Pump Station
The water treatment needs of Tampa’s roughly 398,000 population is partially served by the Louisiana Pump Station, treating approximately 15 million gallons of wastewater per day with a daily peak flow of 35 million gallons. Due to its proximity to the Hillsborough river, the pump station needed high quality equipment in order to prevent unwanted debris from getting into the river and interfering with the diverse ecosystem of fish and wildlife. In addition to environmental safety, the river quality is also a concern because it provides drinking water to Tampa City. The challenge of operating a pump station in the region is that Florida’s Gulf Coast is prone to hurricanes and heavy rain which can cause severe storm surges and flooding. So when the city got together in 2018 to plan renovations to their pump station, they needed innovative equipment that was durable enough to stop unwanted debris in the harshest conditions.
Debris and Clogs
Before Aqualitec stepped in, the Louisiana Pump Station only had a manual bar screen installed. As the screen had a bar spacing of 2.5” (see picture 1), it would catch bigger debris but there was still ample room for smaller pieces to make it through the screen. This inefficiency meant that an operator had to go down and manually remove and clean the bar screen, sometimes three times a day. Manual cleaning is not only time-consuming but dangerous as well, as climbing down a well surrounded by pipes and moving water can be a potentially life threatening situation. The city needed a twofold solution: stop debris, and eliminate the need for manual cleanings.
The Aqualitec Solution
The Aqualitec Heavy Duty Screentec bar screen is a vertical bar screen filter system designed to remove any solid objects from wastewater while also protecting pumps from clogging issues. This proprietary bar screen is vertically designed to fit virtually all headworks, pump stations, lift stations, wet wells, and manholes. A stainless steel rake mounted on three heavy duty cables collects unwanted waste at the bottom of the frame, which can then be ejected upwards and prepared for disposal.
Aqualitec’s bar screen design also features a uniquely engineered compressor called the Compactec. This 17 foot long washer compressor washes and compresses the solids as they are being ejected, reducing the waste material by at least 60% during the removal process.
The Louisiana Pump Station found the perfect solution in the Aqualitec Heavy Duty Screentec bar screen. Due to unique constraints of the site there wasn’t a way to build a new well, but the vertical bar screen installed seamlessly in the existing wet well.
Innovative Auto Lift Bar Screen
What makes the Heavy Duty Screentec the preferred choice for operators is its innovative Auto Lift Bar Screen. This unique piece of engineering allows the bar screen to lift itself out of the channel automatically using a mounted heavy duty hydraulic jack system (see picture 2). With the Auto Lift Bar Screen, the device lifts itself up allowing for free flow in the well. Then to put the equipment back in its initial position, all an operator has to do is press a button. This convenient feature gives operators an easy way to lower and raise the screen, which is especially useful when preparing for heavy flooding due to hurricanes.
Aqualitec Heavy Duty Screentec: The Affordable, Quality Solution
In this industry, one of the biggest challenges is preventing clogs and unwanted debris from damaging vital pumps. But this challenge is even more severe in cities like Tampa, who are prone to heavy rains, hurricanes, and flooding. These conditions are already dangerous, but can be deadly when the only way to clean a rake screen is to send an operator to remove it manually. For the Louisiana Pump Station, Aqualitec not only solved their clog issues, but also eliminated the potential safety hazards to the pump operators and technicians. This project highlights how the Heavy Duty Screentec is the perfect solution for all pump stations, especially those that are vulnerable to flooding and extreme weather.
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Aqualitec Screening Equipment