subject: How To Choose A Ground Dewatering Pump Hire Company [print this page] Pumps for hire from a pump hire specialist are commonly used for the following applications:
Clean water, sludge and slurry pumping
Reservoir draining (e.g. as part of reservoir excavation and rebuilds)
Over-pumping chambers during pumping station maintenance
Emergency back-up in the event of a pumping station failure
Pumping during repairs and upgrades to treatment works
At docks, ports, harbours and marinas (e.g. during cleaning, dredging and the removal of sludge and other deposits)
Hydrostatic testing (water or another type of liquid, such as oil, being pumped into a tank to test its pressure tolerance)
And:
Ground dewatering (the removal of unwanted groundwater. or surface water; often required for excavation, draining, water transference, and other purposes)
More about ground dewatering
Choosing the right pump rental specialist for ground dewatering requirements can mean a project remains on deadline and within budget. Leasing pumps for ground dewatering is affordable. When one considers how important effective dewatering is to a projects overall success, that makes pump hire a bargain for the site agent / engineer, and the obvious alternative to investing permanently in pumps and related equipment.
About the water table
The underground depth at which point the ground is totally saturated with water is called the water table. Hiring pumps for the removal of groundwater at construction and civil engineering sites before subsurface excavation for foundations, shoring, or cellar space lowers the water table. This frequently involves the use of submersible pumps and centrifugal pumps.
Other examples of groundwater control
Below are just three examples of dewatering projects that were handled by dewatering pump specialists:
Docklands Light Railway For the Docklands Light Railway (DLR), in a two-year project for a big-name contractor, an initial pumping system was designed and installed to provide pumping for a tunnel-boring machine. Submersible pumps were then supplied in shafts to remove groundwater, and diesel pumps were used for drainage and utilities (including sewage over-pumping).
Cement Quarry Here, a scheme was designed to lower water levels caused by high rainfall at a cement quarry. Use of the quarry as an emergency reservoir normally kept volumes at an acceptable height. But levels started to rise rapidly, creating a threat of millions of gallons of water flooding the local area, including a major link road to a nearby motorway.
The pumping professionals installed a high head, high-flow pump plus 200mm diameter pumping main. A flow rate of 3,000 gallons-per-minute was required to reduce the water level by over 2m. This was achieved. The project took 14 weeks.
London Underground Over a four-year period the pump rental specialist supplied diesel, submersible and air pumps to support various critical applications for London Undergrounds Jubilee Line, for a range of contractors. This included dewatering of tunnel shafts, tunnels and utilities diversions (sewage and gas). Pumps were also provided to the piling contractor: electric-driven self-priming units for pumping slurry.
Only a specialist with an extensive range of pumping equipment and an excellent record of delivering on time could have been selected to work with the above projects. They quickly and accurately assessed:
The size of each projects need
The types of dewatering pumps required (high quality brands of dewatering pumps)
The quantity of dewatering pumps required
Delays to pumping in winter will be minimised
A projects success can undoubtedly depend upon using the right pump firm. One that can comfortably handle jobs of all sizes will be able to supply small portable units as well as industrial-duty dewatering pumps (pumps for heavy industrial needs) available in a variety of sizes and capabilities. They will also be experienced in providing the most appropriate pump models for dewatering purposes at any time of year. Delays to dewatering pumping during winter will be kept to a minimum, so that projects can remain on time and within budget.
Late project completion penalties can be avoided
Finally, a project can be the best-run site in the country, but, without efficient groundwater control, it can soon become hindered in costly and uncomfortable problems, with serious implications for the project (and also for Health and Safety). And when one considers that late completion fines at huge sites can often amount to tens of thousands of pounds, it is no exaggeration to say that, when it comes to efficient ground dewatering, a good pump hire company can literally be worth their weight in gold.
