The “Heart of Los Angeles” (HOLA) is a non-profit organization in Los Angeles, California with the goal of helping underprivileged kids by providing a “comprehensive array” of after school programs. With programs for academics, art, athletics, and wellness, HOLA strives to give kids an all-encompassing educational service. These services are offered at no cost to the families, allowing children in need to easily access these resources.
HOLA is serving over 2,100 youth between the ages of 6-24, according to their website. With HOLA’s services, these children can get the help they need to be successful in school and in life.
Blois Construction brought the HOLA project to Romtec Utilities to provide a wastewater lift station. Romtec Utilities, along with Blois Construction and Brandow & Johnston Engineers worked together to get the design of the station approved by LA County.

The Romtec Utilities waste water lift station is a pre-cast 6’ inner diameter (ID) wet well that is 9.83’ in depth. In this “duplex” system, two Ebara 2 horsepower (HP) submersible pumps sit on floor of the wet well to pump out the wastewater.
There are both primary and secondary level sensors in this system to ensure that the pumps will be triggered and waste will be sent off to treatment. Redundancy like this can be an important but simple safety measure as sitting wastewater can become septic, and overflows are dangerous. The primary level sensor is an AST 4520 Pressure Transducer that measures water level by the pressure that is produced by the water. The secondary level sensors are Nolta MS1 floats that are well suited for wastewater environments.
The level sensors send signals to a Logic Relay to initiate and complete pumping cycles when the wastewater reaches predetermined levels. The Logic Relay is located in a NEMA 4 painted steel enclosure for easy access.
On this project, Romtec Utilities worked closely with the contractor, Blois Construction, in order to supply, deliver, and commission this lift station into service. Thanks to the efforts of Blois Construction, Brandow & Johnston, and Romtec Utilities, the Heart of Los Angeles arts school now has a functioning lift station to handle wastes and keep their school safe for students.