Keeping Sewage off the Streets — Insuring Lift Station Capacity for Now and the Future

The City of Phoenix (City) is more than 516 square miles and has a population of more than 1.5 million people with an annualized growth rate about 3%, making it the 5^th largest city in America. The City operates 27 lift stations that are designed to pump between 75 gpm and 10,000 gpm. The City wanted to insure that the lift stations have the capacity to meet existing flows and to meet the future growth rate. This project completes the requirements of the City's Capacity, Management, Operation, and Maintenance (CMOM) Program concerning the evaluation of existing infrastructure. In 2006, the City hired Stanley Consultants, Inc. (Stanley) to provide a comprehensive lift station (LS) capacity study, which included determination of pump/force main capacity, wet well capacity, influent pump capacity, upstream collection system storage capacity, time available until an overflow during a catastrophic shutdown, and recommendations for improvements.