In addition to the design and supply of lift stations, Romtec Utilities can also perform a retrofit or replacement of an existing system. The recent Washington Avenue Lift Station project in San Bernardino, California, began as a retrofit and ultimately ended as a full system replacement.

Retrofitting allows an existing piece of infrastructure to be updated with improved equipment to better meet updating standards and requirements that may be placed on a lift station. For a retrofit, Romtec Utilities begins by gathering information on which aspects of a lift station are going to be replaced or retained. This allows us to plan and accommodate for the correct hardware to integrate existing elements with new equipment. The Washington Avenue Lift Station project was brought to Romtec Utilities by Thienes Engineering to retrofit the system from vertical pumps to a submersible pump system with a valve vault, but it was ultimately decided that a full replacement of the lift station would be best for the customer.

The Romtec Utilities replacement lift station is composed of a precast 8’x6’ rectangular wet well with two 3 horsepower submersible pumps. The pumps in the lift station are controlled by an Allen Bradley Micrologix 1400 PLC controller that receives level readings from a Vega Vegapuls C 21 radar sensor as the primary, and 3 MS1 NOLTA floats as the backup level sensors. An additional NOLTA MS1 float is installed as a redundant high-level sensor to further protect from dangerous overflows of the system.

Romtec Utilities also supplied a precast valve vault with the lift station to allow for easy access to the valves for maintenance. The valve vault has also been equipped with a sump pump to pump out any water that may collect in the vault.

Paulus, the contractor, installed this lift station on site for Millie & Severson, the general contractor; Real Estate Development Associates, the development manager; and Crow Holdings, the developer. With the guidance of our start-up experts, this lift station replacement was successfully started and commissioned into service for the San Bernardino Municipal Water Department, who will be owning and maintaining the lift station.