Generalized Method for Storm-Water Pumping Station Design

The present paper presents a generalized solution for the hydrologic and hydraulic design of small to medium-sized storm-water pumping stations. The solution enables determination of pump capacity and the corresponding storage capacity. The benefits of the solution include: (1) the ability to consider the effects of storm duration rather than the fixed hydrology assumed in other methods; (2) a simpler and more intuitive design procedure than other available methods; and (3) enabling the calculation of storage requirements independent of the geometry of the wet well and any inundated upstream area. The relation of the method presented herein to several other available methods is presented and the other methods critiqued conceptually and by example. The example is favorably tested using commercial software, and the constant-pumped-discharge assumption of the example is further tested using that software for an actual pump discharge-total dynamic head and system flow-head relationship. Extension of the methods presented in this paper to more complex situations is discussed. The importance of considering different storm durations is emphasized.