The show started off in its usual fashion – introductions, leads, demos and apparently for New Orleans little sleep and a lot of people talking about the fun they had the night before.  This year’s WEFTEC was easily surpassed previous years, with over 17,500 people attending and 984 exhibitors.  The exhibit hall itself was nearly a mile long end to end.

There was a lot of chatter this year about energy efficiency, sustainability and the wastewater infrastructure. A big ticket issue was the EPA’s new Clean Water and Drinking Water Infrastructure Sustainability Policy. This of course ties right into our philosophy – save operating and energy cost, work towards a sustainable water infrastructure and become greener through conscientiously managing your pump stations more efficiently.

Overall the show was amazing, we had great booth traffic, awesome help from Brendan’s reps – Coastal and Odessa Pumps, Hydra Service, Automatic Engineering Inc., Pete Duty and Associates, Instrument and Supply, and Nedrow and Associates. And of course our very own MultiTrode crew, Sandy in particular who did a great job organizing and coordinating WEFTEC 2010.  We are looking forward to taking on The City of Angels at WEFTEC 2011!

Much of the country’s infrastructure was built in the 30 years after World War II. Although age is a key indicator of a system’s health, equally important is the way the system has been maintained. A well-maintained system can operate effectively for a significant period of time.

All products have a life cycle – the clothes you wear, the desk you’re working on, the chair you’re sitting in – everything. The same is true for the nation’s infrastructure, and each of its components:

Components & Life Cycles

Collections: 80-100 Years

Treatment Plants (Concrete Structure): 50 Years

Treatment Plant Mechanical/Electrical Equipment: 15-20 Years

Force Mains: 25 Years

Pump Stations (Concrete Structure): 50 Years

Pump Stations (Mechanical/Electrical Equipment): 15 Years

Interceptors: 90-100 Years

What is the state of the Union?

Among the many challenges facing our water and wastewater systems are:

• Large Capital Investment
• Aging Workforce
• Lack of New Skilled Workers Entering the Marketplace
• Increased Regulation
• Disengaged Public
• Interdependence on the Energy Sector

Estimates of national investment needs range from $300 Billion to $2 Trillion over the next 20 years.

Today’s population is benefiting from the investments made by past generations. Looking forward, the EPA is promoting practices that encourage utilities to address existing needs so that future generations will not be left to rebuild a crumbling infrastructure. This is referred to as “Sustainable Infrastructure”.

The Four Pillars of Sustainable Infrastructure are better management, efficient water use, full-cost pricing of water and a watershed approach to protection. The EPA believes this will help utilities to operate more sustainably now and in the future.

MultiTrode Can Help!

Our technologically advanced products have been developed with system efficiency and easy interface in mind. With the push of a button, our smart pump controllers will help you:

• Promote effective utility management
• Minimize operations cost
• Facilitate effective asset management
• Improve maintenance and capital investment planning
• Reduce energy cost & CO2 emissions
• Increase system-wide efficiency

Learn more about the innovative Level Sensing Probe and intuitive MultiSmart Pump Station Manager.

There’s a great 3 minute video about how vacuum pumping works on their home page, www.flovac.com

John Radinoff, the Flovac Managing Director, explained to me why vacuum pumping is gaining ground: ”These systems are used in areas difficult to sewer using traditional technologies. Ideally suited for areas with high water table, rocky sites or flat ground, the system has proven to be extremely economical in such topography. 
Eliminating infiltration and exfiltration, vacuum sewerage is highly regarded by many EPA’s around the world and has proven to be the sewerage technology with the lowest carbon footprint. This is the reason why it is the naturally preferred choice of sewerage in high profile sustainable projects like Masdar in the UAE.”

It’s clear that gravity sewer is really expensive when you have  a high water table, rocky terrain or very low density housing.

There’s a good Wikipedia article about vaccum pumping.

Pressure sewer technology covers a similar list of advantages over gravity sewer.

For MultiSmart, the Flovac application is a 4-pump 2-well configuration. The “wells” are independent. On one side we are measuring the vacuum pressure and based on that starting and stopping the pair of vacuum pumps. On the liquid side, we are measuring the liquid level in the well and starting and stopping the wastewater pumps.