Case Study 04.2021

A New Master Lift Station
Comes Into Service forNatchitoches, LA
The oldest town in the Louisiana Purchase, Natchitoches
currently has a population of approximately 20,000 people. An
old town means old infrastructure, so a project to upgrade thecity’s master lift station was recently set into motion.
According to Henry Shuler, ownerand consulting engineer for Shuler
Consulting Company, one of thebiggest issues with the old station
was its location, which was in atiny city lot crammed into a corner
between the road and a commercialbusiness. In addition, the lift station
was at limited capacity, as it only had
four pumps.
“When you have that much sewage going into avery small wet well, corrosion becomes an issue.
Odor was also a problem,” said Shuler. “So beyond
just the normal engineering side of it, you had
some customer issues – so moving [the station]away from its current location was something very
advantageous for the city.”
The new property the company ended up building on
for the city of Natchitoches is several acres, and thenew station is in the middle of it. On a piece of land
four times larger than the old one, the new station© 2021 Gorman-Rupp Pumps

The added convenience of truck/craneaccessibility allows for performing easy
equipment addition/removal and routine
service and maintenance.

1The city also took advantage Gorman-Rupp’s
Integrinex® Advanced control technology. The
manufacturer supplied a cellular modem for theSCADA system so the system can be monitored andadjusted as needed.
The motor control center, according to the lift station
operators, is unprecedented. The controls are all
touch-screen and very easy to use. Operators canmonitor run times, engine status and pump status.
The new lift station’s average flow is about 2 million
gallons a day (MGD) and 6 MGD during peak flow.
According to Matt Anderson, the utility director forthe city of Natchitoches, the master station that wasreplaced was approximately 25 to 27 years old. Due toits age, the decision was made to replace rather thanrepair the station.
“We made the decision that if we’re going to build this,let’s build it for the next 30 years’ worth of growth,”
said Anderson. “So [there’s] quite a difference in ourold master station and our new master lift station.”In the event of a power outage, four of theeight pump packages are equipped with aback-up engine that will automatically start
based on fluid levels in the wet well.

Instead of spending the necessary dollars in rehabbing
and bypassing the station for months (which would
mean taking the wet well out of service), investing themoney in building a new station made more sense.

gives the city the ability to operate a crane truck
inside the building for pulling a pump, motor or otherequipment. The lift station is also close enough to theprevious property that the gravity lines were able tobe easily rerouted without going a great distance.

The new lift station has two separate wet wells withthe capability to isolate one in the future. Each wet
well contains four pumps – two in each well utilizing
Gorman-Rupp’s AutoStart engine-driven emergency
back-up technology.

The Equipment

A Beneficial Partnership

At one point, the city looked at a variety of pumpconfigurations for the old station. But, there wasreally no easy way to maintain it, according to Shuler.

Anderson has worked with Gorman-Rupp for over 23
years and considers the company a valuable partner.
“We have many, many stations with Gorman-Rupp
products, and we’ve always been satisfied with theirparts availability,” he said.

The original master lift station had four 12” pumps.
They were replaced with eight 10” pumps. When it
came to programming these pumps, the process wasuser-friendly. Equipment operators can monitor eachpump based on flow into the wet well and adjust thespeed accordingly. The pumps operate at minimum
speeds that can be easily increased..

2

“Gorman-Rupp is probably our top company that werepresent as far as sales,” said Trent McCoy, municipal
sales representative for Delta Process Equipment , theequipment distributor for this project. “Certainly my top
manufacturer as far as municipal sewer sales. They make© 2014 ©
The
2021
Gorman-Rupp
Gorman-Rupp
CompanyPumps

it really easy to sell. I think Gorman-Rupp kind of speaks
for itself as far as quality and reliability.”
Tornadoes and hurricanes (as well as a recent winterstorm) are typical in this region of Louisiana. The newlift station was specifically designed to handle suchevents. During Hurricane Laura, for instance, thestation was completely out of power for almost 40hours but remained in operation.
“For 40 hours, during a heavy rain event, we had torely on those backup engines to run those pumps,
and they did a great job,” added Anderson.
In terms of Gorman-Rupp’s service elements, they
are always available to help. When a problem arose,
Gorman-Rupp and Delta Process were able toprovide quick service to mitigate any issues.

About Gorman-Rupp Pumps
For more than 85 years Gorman-Rupp Pumps USA
has manufactured pumps for municipal, sewage,industrial, mining, construction, petroleum, OEM,government, agriculture and fire markets.
The company’s extensive line of pump products include
self-priming centrifugal pumps, standard centrifugal
pumps, submersible pumps, rotary gear pumps,
diaphragm pumps, engine-driven pumps, and priming
assist pumps. In addition, Gorman-Rupp manufactures
a complete line of state-of-the-art packaged lift stations
and booster stations that include pumps, motors,controls, piping, accessories and enclosures.
For more information, contact Cyndi Hoffner,

Gorman-Rupp designed and manufactured
the complex control technology to ensure theentire system works in harmony with the city’s
unique requirements.
Advertising Manager, Gorman-Rupp Pumps USA; 600
South Airport Road, Mansfield, OH 44903-7831; Phone:419-755-1011; email cyndi.hoffner@gormanrupp.com;
www.grpumps.com.

GORMAN-RUPP PUMPS | P.O. BOX 1217 | MANSFIELD, OHIO 44901-1217 | USA | 419.755.1011 | GRSALES@GORMANRUPP.COM | GRPUMPS.COM2
3© 2014 ©
The2021
Gorman-Rupp
Gorman-Rupp
Company
Pumps