If there’s one natural disaster that impacts all of Australia at a rate that no other natural disaster comes close to, the award would go to stormy weather. With storms that amount to cyclones the likes of Cyclone Debbie in 2017, it’s hard to turn a blind eye to the massive effect it has on the livelihood of Australians in terms of ordinary living to industrial and agricultural reliance.

With an increase in water flow due to heavy rains, dirt and debris inevitably accumulate at an incredible rate pushing the boundaries of wastewater management to its limits. The impact of storms on the drainage system is highly taxing with efficiency failure leading to flooding as was seen all over Queensland as a result of Cyclone Debbie in 2017.

When it comes to the effect stormy weather has on wastewater pumps, the necessity to have a wastewater pump specifically designed to handle storms and massive influxes of water flow is critical for efficient functioning.

Wastewater pumps that are designed as stormwater pumps are typically submersible pumps that aid in the pumping of excessive amounts of water. The way stormwater pumps work is through the initial collection of stormwater in retention tanks that are linked to driveways, car parks, and areas where floods tend to accumulate. These stormwater pumps are then used to pump the stormwater from the retention tank into a higher elevated place for wastewater treatment to commence.

Due to the way wastewater pumps and stormwater pumps work, they are often found submerged in a wet wall consisting of packaged pump stations or poured concrete.

The increased flow of water that comes together with a storm will force a wastewater pump to work at maximum efficiency. If installed correctly and at a fully functioning state built using durable materials such as fibreglass, the wastewater pump should efficiently pump out excess wastewater into the treatment centre thus avoiding an accumulation of excess water which will lead to flooding. In instances where the storm brings in too much rain, more than one pumping station may be required in order to accommodate the mass amounts of stormwater.

By utilising a plug and play stormwater pumping station, installation time can be saved with units that are pre-plumbed and ready to operate upon setting up. These plug and play units not only boast convenience but often mean lesser consumption of electricity, compressed air, or diesel (depending on how the pumps are powered).

Stormwater pumping stations are ideal for domestic, commercial, industrial, and mining environments with high-quality providers offering customisations to cater for a specific site’s requirements. Where flooding is a major issue in a particular setting, the use of pumping systems with a high capacity up to 30,000L will be ideal due to the major influx of water flow.

Pumps that are not designed to handle stormy weather will find it hard to efficiently pump stormwater and wastewater into the treatment system and will more than likely have lower capacities as low as 100L. The inability to cater for stormy weather will mean that generic pumps built for smaller retention tanks will not be able to pump out a sufficient amount of water to deter flooding from happening.