A lift station keeps wastewater moving when gravity cannot do the job. When lift stations fail, a facility can face backups, odors, emergency callouts, and expensive repairs. That risk is even higher at a secure site where access is limited and downtime is not an option.
At a federal correctional facility near Milan, Michigan, two aging lift stations were experiencing ongoing operational problems. A full replacement of both stations was projected to be too expensive. Romtec Utilities was brought in to engineer a lift station retrofit plan that reused the existing below-grade structures while delivering new pumps, controls, and valves on preassembled skids.

Milan is a small city in southeast Michigan. It sits south of Ann Arbor and about 50 miles southwest of Detroit. The area is also within a short drive of the Ohio state line and Lake Erie, one of the Great Lakes.

The Saline River runs nearby, and the community has several parks and outdoor spaces. This setting matters for wastewater infrastructure because reliable pumping helps protect nearby waterways and public spaces when a site cannot rely on gravity flow alone.

The Federal Correctional Institution in Milan, Michigan is a low-security federal correctional facility with an on-site detention center. Like many large campuses, it depends on multiple wastewater systems to keep buildings operating safely and to move effluent to existing force mains.

For correctional facilities, dependable wastewater pumping is not just a maintenance issue. Access windows can be limited, emergency work is complicated, and any disruption can impact daily operations. That is why the prison team needed a practical, lower-cost path to improve reliability without a long construction schedule.

The site had two older lift stations that included below-grade sumps (wet wells) and existing discharge piping. Over time, these stations began to experience operational problems that made them less dependable for medium sewage flows.

Instead of removing the entire system and starting over, the retrofit approach focused on keeping the below-grade structures and the existing force mains in place. The upgrade centered on new above-grade pumping and control equipment that could be installed faster and serviced more easily.

The prison needed to replace two aging lift stations that were no longer performing as required. However, the cost of two full lift station replacements was too large for the facility to absorb at the time. The team needed an option that improved reliability while reducing the scope of demolition and civil work.

A successful solution had to work with what was already on site, fit within federal requirements, and minimize on-site assembly. Most importantly, it needed to deliver a dependable pumping setup that could be maintained without constant troubleshooting.

Romtec Utilities was contacted to propose a lift station retrofit that would modernize the pumping system while reusing the existing below-grade sumps. After visiting the facility, Romtec Utilities technicians and engineers developed retrofit packages built around two skid-mounted lift station systems sized for medium sewage flows.

Each system used a preassembled above-grade skid with self-priming pumps in a duplex configuration (two pumps). Suction piping drops into the existing sumps to pull wastewater up and send it through the existing discharge piping to the force mains. Because the skid arrives assembled, installation time on site is reduced and the layout is consistent from the start.
The valves and control panels were delivered on the skid as part of a complete package. The skid-mounted control panels included intrinsically safe barriers for in-well electrical controls, along with pressure transducers and conductive probes for primary and backup liquid level sensing. This packaged approach helps standardize operation and provides clear, serviceable access to key components.
Another benefit was procurement. The facility was able to purchase both complete skid-mounted systems through Romtec Utilities federal government contract pricing, which supported significant cost savings across design, manufacturing, delivery, and installation. The result was a lower-cost lift station upgrade that still met the operational needs of the site.

This project was a collaboration between the facility team and Romtec Utilities. The prison identified the performance problems and budget constraints, and Romtec Utilities provided the site visit, engineering, equipment design, and manufacturing for the retrofit packages.
Romtec Utilities supplied complete skid-mounted lift station systems that included pumps, level controls, valves, and pump control panels. By delivering a coordinated system instead of a mix of parts, Romtec Utilities helps owners and operators feel confident that the equipment is designed to work together and to meet the standards required for the specific project.

The Milan, Michigan federal correctional facility needed a dependable answer for two aging lift stations, but a full replacement of both stations was not the right fit financially. The skid-mounted lift station retrofit approach reused existing below-grade structures while delivering modern pumping and controls above grade for easier access and maintenance.
This project shows how Romtec Utilities can engineer around existing conditions to reduce cost and complexity. When a site has a usable wet well but failing equipment, a lift station retrofit can be a smart path forward helping owners improve performance without rebuilding everything from scratch.