Use of Pump-down Tests to Infer Hydraulic Resistance of Wastewater Forcemains

Abstract

Forcemains are an integral part of sewerage systems. However, they deteriorate, occlude, and become faulty with time. Owners of small lift-stations often cannot afford sophisticated supervisory control and data acquisition systems and are therefore left utilizing naïve pump-down tests to infer the hydraulic resistance of a forcemain. These hydraulic resistance inferences were expected to be erroneous. This study aimed to investigate when a naïve interpretation of hydraulic resistance will lead to erroneous inferences.