For this project we provided the design and supply of a chemical plant stormwater pump station and fiberglass wastewater lift station at the DOW Chemical facility in Louisiana. The unique pumping environment of the chemical plant stormwater pump station and fiberglass wastewater lift station required fiberglass wet wells in both systems to ensure leak detection.

At a Dow facility in Louisiana, we delivered a stormwater pump station engineered for hurricane grade rainfall and flood resilience, and a fiberglass wastewater lift station replacement to solve long term H₂S/MIC corrosion and cut maintenance. Together, these systems strengthen environmental compliance, uptime, and safety—while providing a replicable template for other chemical manufacturers operating in coastal, high hazard regions.

Plaquemine, Louisiana is a city in the southeast portion of the state near Baton Rouge, sitting along the Mississippi River. Baton Rouge is 14 miles north along State Route 1, while New Orleans is 85 miles to the southeast along Interstate 10.

It is the parish seat of Iberville Parish and had a population of 6,269 at the 2020 census.

For the prefabricated stormwater pump station, we prefabricated most of the system in the fiberglass wet well, to ensure a high level of quality control but to also ensure a quick and easy installation for the plant. This prefabricated stormwater pump station fits the needs of the Dow Chemical Company at their Plaquemine, Louisiana chemical plant.

Dow Chemical Company has a large operation in Plaquemine, with various buildings and plants in a large area. Dow Chemical is a materials science company that creates a variety of chemicals and products including plastics, soaps, detergents, food additives, cosmetics, shampoos, and pharmaceuticals.

The Plaquemine Dow Chemical campus is a integrated manufacturing facility that is the largest employer in Iberville Parish. It is one of the largest petrochemical facilities in Louisiana. It is an ethane cracker and petrochemical plant that produces 1.5 million metric tons of ethylene and over 1 million metric tons of polyethylene, as well as propylene and other petrochemical products.

This package stormwater pump station was designed to respect the confidentiality of this industrial facility. The entire system was delivered with much of the hardware preinstalled in the fiberglass wet well to facilitate simple, “drop-in” installation. We manufactured and fabricated a majority of the system at our facility which ensures quality control but also cuts down on the costs, time, and equipment required to install the pump station. These savings are all passed along to the customer.

To meet the high flows of industrial stormwater, submersible Flygt centrifugal pumps were supplied that could handle the possibility of suspended hydrocarbons. A PLC control panel utilizes an ultrasonic transducer and float controls for liquid level-sensing. The entire package was self-installed by the customer. The fiberglass wet well has a 10’ diameter with 12” discharge piping.

A fiberglass wet well was used to ensure that there was no leaking of the wet well, or possible hydrocarbons from stormwater at the chemical plant. This large plant has various buildings, operations, and machinery, along with a large campus, so the system had to be large to keep up with any stormwater events. A fiberglass wet well was utilized to ensure safe pumping operations, as part of the pumping plan at this chemical plant.

The stormwater pump station pumps up to 8500 gallons per minute with a @ 32′ TDH (total dynamic head).

We designed, manufactured, and supplied this replacement fiberglass wastewater lift station for this chemical plant at the manufacturing facility for the Dow Chemical Company. Their old system needed to be replaced so we worked with them on this packaged lift station that would be approved and installed by their own staff who work at the facility.

We utilized a precast fiberglass wet well to provide for the pumping needs of this replacement fiberglass wastewater lift station at this petrochemical facility in Plaquemine, Louisiana.

This package fiberglass wastewater lift station replacement was delivered largely preassembled for quick and simple installation by the customer. The fiberglass wet well was precast and delivered that way. Cost and reliability are major benefits when utilizing a fiberglass wet well, that can be fitted for leak detection and can resist most chemicals or gasses, making it a perfect fit for this chemical plant. A fiberglass wet well can be placed vertically or horizontal applications depending on the need.

This procedure provided an expertly designed lift station that would uphold the privacy values of the facility. The fiberglass 6’ diameter wet well arrived with mounting hardware, discharge piping, Vaughan pumps, and the valve assembly preinstalled. Only the duplex solids handling pumps needed to be lowered after installation of the sump. An outdoor UL listed control panel was designed with float controls for liquid level-sensing and included an auto dialer for communications.

The wastewater lift station can pump up to 350 gallons per minute with a Total Dynamic Head (TDH) @ 90’.

Why This Matters in Louisiana’s Chemical Corridor
-Dow’s Louisiana footprint spans multiple sites, including Louisiana Operations (Plaquemine) and St. Charles Operations (Hahnville)—large, integrated complexes producing basic and specialty chemicals used worldwide.
-Hurricanes, storm surge, and extreme rainfall are unavoidable design drivers. Ida (2021) showed that while levee upgrades worked, power and water systems faced widespread disruptions—an important lesson for hardening pump and control assets.

1. Design to today’s rain, not yesterday’s tables. Use NOAA Atlas 14 PFDS for IDF curves nd consider uncertainty bands; studies in Louisiana show legacy regional curves can under estimate intensities.
2. Permit for where regulation is going. The proposed 2026 MSGP adds PFAS monitoring and tighter AIM; set up sampling, analytics, and SCADA data trails now to simplify compliance later.
3. Build for hurricanes/power loss. Elevate critical gear, provide redundancy, and integrate standby power with controlled restarts. Ida reinforced that continuous service depends on hardened utilities.
4. Fight MIC at the root. FRP wet wells avoid the H₂S → sulfuric acid attack that destroys concrete; combine with ventilation/odor control to stabilize the gas environment.
5. Modernize SCADA securely. Standardize tags and historians across outfalls and lift stations; implement DR/cyber hygiene so alarms, trending, and compliance reports continue when the grid doesn’t.
6. Resilience pays back. Macro level analyses show high ROI for risk reduction investments in Louisiana; the same logic applies to resilient pump assets that avoid environmental incidents and downtime.

Move and control high volume runoff reliably during Gulf storms, protect water quality under the MSGP/LPDES framework, and maintain operations during grid disturbances.

Replace a corrosion prone basin with a prefabricated fiberglass wet well and modernized pumping/control package to eliminate H₂S/MIC deterioration, reduce confined space work, and align with hazardous location and ventilation standards.

We can work with you on your chemical plant pump station needs or pumping plan to handle the various challenges and chemicals that can end up in stormwater or wastewater. Contact us today as we can design, manufacture, and supply your complete pumping system to meet your specific site, plant, and pumping needs.