East Worthing Storm Pump

32” (800mm) Discharge Raw Rag-laden Sewage Capability

Exsel Pumps responded to an emergency request to look at a major problem faced at East Worthing Works. It soon became obvious the scale and complexity of the problem. The initial problem was the failure of the storm pumps for the works and a system had to be put in place to be able to pump the rag laden sewage at high volumes to three potential discharge points. Space on site was limited as was access to the inlet well and there were also concerns at the amount of debris in the inlet well. There was particular time pressure due to the site having no storm pump capability.

Within a short timescale Exsel proposed a solution and the plan was mobilised. It required the use of a submersible sewage pump not available in any general rental fleet in Europe. With Exsel’s contacts and capabilities a pump was sourced along with the necessary 800 mm diameter pipework, which is not available in UK rental fleets. The initial one pump installation was capable of pumping 10,000 m3/h (2,800 l/s) and was set up in three days. The pipework arrangement was more complex as the requirement was to be able to pump to one of three discharge points. This required a number of valve arrangements and special pipework had to be manufactured to provide the perfect fit. The pump was controlled through a variable speed drive with level control sensors and also adopted a protection system that warned of any problems developing with the pump itself.