Airport pump systems are an important part of the operations of an airport as they handle wastewater or stormwater to allow the facility to operate properly. While this means that every airport lift station is unique, we can design and supply a system that meets your specific airport pumping requirements.
Airports are a critical part of travel and transportation across the U.S. and come with their own unique set of pumping needs.
With time, major or international airports must be upgraded to keep up with growing travel demand, and a growing airport requires updated infrastructure to meet the needs of the facility.
At Romtec Utilities, we have worked on several airport pump systems that vary from industrial wastewater pump stations to high volume stormwater pump stations that handle runway and parking lot runoff. As designers, manufacturers, and suppliers of pump systems we can design a system to meet the specific site, infrastructure, and pumping requirements at any United States airport.
U.S. Airport Pump System Considerations
Airports have different types of considerations when replacing or installing a new pump system:
-Existing utilities and infrastructure underground present a challenge when deciding where new or replacement systems should go.
-Coordinating commissioning of the system is complex as there are many parts moving at once, and it is imperative that there is not a disruption to the airport’s service.
-Airports have tough pumping environments and require robust pumps and systems that can handle large solids that are flushed into the system.
-Stormwater from runways can come in large amounts and can contain VOCs and other contaminants which can provide their own unique hurdles.
We can help you with the challenges that come with airport pump stations as our team of engineers design the system to meet the exact needs of the site and airport pumping requirements.
Airport Wastewater Lift Station
A port (especially the Port of Portland) behaves like a small city. Utilities are added over the years, and the “maze” of what exists below the surface is extravagant. Romtec Utilities had to do a significant amount of site modeling and evaluation for the PDX TCORE project to ensure that the wastewater system was placed in the proper location.
We provided an industrial wastewater lift station for the PDX TCORE project as the main sewer pump station for Portland International Airport. The airport recently underwent a major upgrade called “PDX Next” which increased the capacity of the airport from 20 million to 35 million people per year.
The wastewater lift station features two custom in-line grinders also called muffin monsters that macerate and reduce any solids before they reach the lift station. The in-line grinders are perfect for handling the tough airport pumping environment, where many things are thrown into the wastewater system, to reduce solids and prevent damage to the lit station.
People don’t live at the airport but still have a wide range of “things” that get flushed down the toilet. The wastewater systems (like PDX TCORE) need to have robust pumps that can handle extreme solids. In this case, the system also has upstream grinder manholes. In addition, it is important to consider the high volume of usage that an airport pump station will encounter.
An airport has robust existing infrastructure both in terms of structural and mechanical elements, but also on the SCADA and electrical spectrum. One challenge is scheduling when installing and commissioning a system. As part of Romtec Utilities’ typical services, we schedule a time to commission the system with the airport, sometimes providing multiple training sessions to ensure all shifts have a chance to attend. The airport cannot simply stop all activity to bring the system online.
When PDX TCORE was brought online, flows were redirected to the new system. Therefore, the room for error was very low during this process.
For a different project, Romtec Utilities worked with The Portland International Airport on a high-volume stormwater pump station. The Columbia River is right next to the Portland Airport and therefore has high groundwater tables. One of its runways needed a large pump station to discharge high volumes of water to a nearby creek.
When Runway 3-21 was under construction, it was at the end of an auxiliary runway at an active airport. This required more coordination to get on-site, and specific rules that needed to be followed while on-site installing the system.
We designed a system with 50 horsepower Flygt axial flow pumps along with a 15 hp jockey pump. We provided large piping and 24-inch operational valves and supplied three individual precast vaults to house the triplex discharge valves. This prefabrication and design helped with the construction lead times.
The system can pump up to 18,140 gallons per minute with low head requirements.
Romtec Utilities met all the rules and requirements for this stormwater lift station project and designed a system to handle the high flows of stormwater on the runway. For the training and commissioning of the system we did a two-day training that went over all of the operations and controls of the systems and various alarms. We worked with their operations team to schedule a time that would allow all their maintenance team to attend one of the meetings.
Airports have notoriously difficult pumping scenarios, just like prisons, schools, and apartment complexes.
Airport Stormwater Lift Station
On the stormwater side of things, we also encounter unique hurdles. The water comes off the runway (in mass quantities) and often contains VOCs and other contaminants. This is true for the stormwater system that services the PDX parking garage area as well.
We have designed systems that meet all of these pumping environments, which sometimes feature fiberglass vaults with leak detection. This includes industrial pumping projects that deal with chemicals or contaminants.
For the Santa Barbara Municipal Airport we designed a wastewater lift station for the airport with two submersible solid handling pumps. A jockey pump was also used for low flows and acts as a sump pump. A large control building was part of this project which housed the generator, control panel, and a ferrous oxide chemical feed for odor control.
As airports have unique pumping environments, we have worked to design, manufacture, and supply complete pump systems that meet the complete pumping needs of the airport. We can design a system that handles high volumes of stormwater on runways or the tough pumping environment of airport wastewater systems.
