ABSTRACT: Design of a stormwater pump station is a complicated procedure because of the

large number of parameters that are involved. Even the most basic pump station serving a
small catchment requires a computationally intensive iterative evaluation. However, the
design problem consists primarily of finding the com-
bination of temporary storage and pump capacity that accommodates runoff of the selected
recurrence interval for the least cost. A procedure is developed for rapidly obtaining the
needed relation between storage volume and discharge for small pump stations where a
constant outflow can be assumed and the inflow hydrograph can be represented using the
modified rational method with rainfall given by a widely-used intensity-duration equation.
Accept-ing the limitations of the modified rational method and the simplifications applied to
pump station operation, the procedure provides an uncomplicated way of rapidly finding the
stormwater runoff volume that needs to be temporarily stored for given values of pump
discharge and activation water level (or, equivalently, activation storage volume). Ultimate
determination of temporary runoff stor-age will depend on an economic analysis of the
trade-off between storage volume and pump capacity.

INTRODUCTION

Pump stations are components of stormwater drainage systems that remove collected storm
runoff from locations where drainage by gravity is not feasible. Usually pump stations will
operate infrequently; therefore, a substantial capital investment will be idle for long periods
of time between storms. However, needed pump capacity can be reduced significantly if
runoff is stored temporarily before it is pumped from the basin. Therefore, the initial cost of
the station as well as maintenance and operating expenses can be reduced if runoff storage
can be obtained at a small enough cost.

When storage is used to reduce pump capacity, design of the system requires routing an
inflow hydrograph through the stormwater runoff storage facility. Information needed for
design of the pump station includes an inflow hydrograph, a stage-storage relation, and a
stage-discharge relation. The stage-discharge relation depends on the operating
characteristics of the selected pumps and the on-off settings of the pump control switches.
The number and size of pumps can also be varied in design. Stations with multiple pumps of
the same capacity often alternate the starting sequences so that pump wear is equal. Other
stations are designed with pumps of both large and small capacity, the smaller pumps
switching on first, thereby saving wear on the larger pumps.

Sizing a pump station typically requires successive evaluation of different design options by
routing inflow hydrographs through the detention facility until a satisfactory least- cost
alternative is found (Baumgardner, 1983). However, direct sizing of needed storage or pump
capacity is possible for pump stations serving small catchments where constant pumping
rates will be used. Burton (1980) develops an approximate relation for storage volume by
combining an expression for rainfall intensity as a function of storm duration with a runoff
hydrograph based on the rational method. The procedure requires an estimate of the time-
of-concentration of the catchment and assumes that pumping begins when the rate of inflow
to the basin first equals the selected pumping rate. However, pump control switches are
usually based on water level (or equivalently runoff storage volume) and activate the pumps
according to the on-off settings. Therefore, the start of pumping does not usually depend
directly on the inflow rate. In addition, the simple form of the rainfall intensity-duration
equation used by Burton (1980) might limit application of the method.

Another approximate method for direct sizing of temporary storage volumes is presented in
"Design and Construction of Urban Stormwater Management Systems" (ASCE, 1992, pg. 391)
and is based on a triangular inflow hydrograph to the pump station and a constant outflow
rate. Pumping is assumed to begin at the start of inflow to the station with no initial runoff
being stored. However, on-off settings that control the beginning and ending of pumping are
usually chosen to prolong the life of pump motors. Therefore, main pumps are not usually
turned on at the start of inflow but sometime later when enough runoff has
been stored to ensure a sufficient cycle time. At many stations a small sump pump is
installed to handle small stormwater flows and to drain the wet-well after large storms,
thereby reducing wear on the main pumps.

A simple, direct, and rapid procedure for finding the runoff storage volume needed at small
stormwater pump stations at which outflow is constant is developed here using the modified
rational method to obtain an inflow hydrograph to the station. Rainfall is computed from a
widely-used intensity-duration equation for which empirical coefficients can be easily
obtained for any location in the United States. The sizing procedure accepts the limitations of
the rational method and is based on a simplified pump cycling sequence that assumes all
pumps start and stop simultaneously. The results can be used as a final solution or as an
initial estimate for more advanced calculations.

RUNOFF ANALYSIS

For many small catchments and for most highway drainage collection sites where pump
stations are needed, peak flows will be produced soon after the maximum rainfall intensity
occurs during a storm ("Highway," American Association of State Highway and Transportation
Officials, 1992, pg. VIII-29). At these locations the modified rational method ("Urban,"
American Public Works Association, 1981, pg. 52; Walesh, 1989, pg. 105; Wanielista, 1978,
pg. 158) can be used to obtain inflow hydrographs to a pump station. The modified rational
method relies on the same assumptions as the rational method, the two most important
being (1) that the peak rate of runoff at any location is a direct function of the average rain-
fall intensity corresponding to the rainfall duration, and (2) that the frequency of the
computed runoff volume equals the frequency of the average rainfall intensity. An additional
assumption of the modified rational method is that runoff increases at a linear rate from the
start of rainfall for a period equal to the time-of-concentration of the catchment tc (that is,
the time needed for runoff to flow from the hydraulically most remote location of the
drainage basin), after which time the flow remains constant at the peak rate until the
cessation of rainfall when flow decreases at a linear rate during a period equal to t. The peak
runoff rate is given by the rational formula
Q=kCiA
Walesh (1989, pg. 110) notes that the most serious deficiency of the modified rational
method is that it does not account for runoff generated by rainfall prior to or after the design
storm. However, from the results of a stormwater management survey, Poertner and Reindl
(1980) find that more than 80 percent of public agencies approve use of the modified
rational
method for calculating runoff hydrographs.

Rainfall intensity-duration equations of various forms have been developed for many cities
throughout the United States [see, for example, Chow (1962) and Wenzel (1986)1. One of
the most widely used forms is I = a/(td + b) Where a and b are empirical coefficients and td =
storm duration. Rainfall intensities given by Equation (2) for all storm durations are equally
likely to occur. Meyer (1928) and Steel and McGhee (1979) provide values of the coefficients
a and b in Equation (2) for several broad regions of the United States. Froehlich (1993)
presents a method for finding the coefficients a and b in Equation (2) for any location in the
United States using readily available up-to-date rainfall maps prepared by the National
Weather Service. Because of its wide use and the ability to obtain coefficients for any
location, Equation (2) will be used to represent average rainfall intensity as a function of
storm duration when applying the modified rational method to evaluate pump station
storage requirements. Runoff hydrographs for various storm durations obtained using the
modified rational method for a 20-ha catchment having a time-of-concentration t = 10 mm.,
a runoff coefficient C = 0.36, and rainfall intensity in millimeters per hour given by Equation
(2) with coefficients a = 6000 and b = 20 when td is given in minutes are shown in Figure 1.

FINDING STORAGE VOLUME

Pump station operation is simplified for the pur- pose of this analysis. Pump on-off switches
are assumed keyed to water levels in the storage facility, or equivalently to storage volume.
Multiple pumps are considered to operate as a single unit, starting and stopping
simultaneously. Pumps are activated at time ta when the storage volume equals a specified
value Va and the inflow rate equals Qa. The pump _____ activation volume Va will, at a
minimum, equal the combined pump cycling volume needed to limit the frequency of starts.
The constant discharge Q0 continues until the entire volume of stored runoff above the
pump shut-off elevation is removed.

Operating Condition I
Operating condition I exists when the pump is switched on before the peak inflow occurs and
the stored runoff will not be depleted before the inflow rate exceeds the pumping rate.
The critical value of Q* producing the maximum relative storage volume for specified values
of relative outflow rate Q0* and relative initial storage volume Va* is found by differentiating
Equation (5) with respect to Q * and equating the result to zero. The resulting al'gebraic
equation for Q* would be quadratic and provide a simple analytic solution except for the
presence of a square root term. Although an exact analytic solution is still possible with a
simple variable transformation, the resulting expression is unnecessarily complicated.
However, operating condition I is constrained by the activation storage volume Va, which
cannot be depleted before the inflow rate equals the pumping rate.

Operating Condition II
If the pumps are activated before peak inflow occurs and the detention facility is emptied of
all stored runoff before the rate of inflow equals the pumping rate (that is, before Q = Qo).
After all stored runoff has been pumped from the detention facility and before the inflow
rate increases to equal the station capacity, all of the inflow is assumed to be removed by
continuous pumping.
The mode of operation described by condition II might not occur if the water level in the wet
well falls low enough to cause the pump to switch off. Because frequent starting and
stopping of the pump motors can be damaging, sufficient volume needs to be provided
between pump start and stop elevations to meet the minimum cycle time requirement.
Therefore, design of a pump station to function under operating condition II needs to be
evaluated carefully.

Operating Condition III

If storage volume is large enough, pumping might begin after inflow to the detention facility
reaches its peak (that is, for ta > t and Q = Q). If pumping starts before the end of the storm.

Multiple pumps with Staged Settings

A conservative 'estimate of the storage volume needed for stations having more than one
pump with staged on/off settings is found by considering all the pumps in the station to act
as a single unit that is activated at the highest stage or storage volume setting. The constant
outflow rate Q0 is just the sum of the discharges of all of the pumps. Although the estimated
storage volume will be larger than what will actually be needed, it will provide a starting point
for more exact calculations.

EXAMPLE APPLICATION

The pump station sizing procedure is used to determine the needed detention storage
volume at a pump station that collects runoff from a 14.2 hectare catchment located in a
suburban neighborhood in Charlotte, North Carolina. Single-family residential land use
predominates in the basin. The pump station is to be designed to accommodate runoff from
a 50-year recurrence interval storm as recommended in "Highway" (American Association of
State Highway and Transportation Officials,1992, Chapter IX, pg. 28). The rational method
runoff coefficient C for the 50- year storm is estimated to be 0.55 (Grigg, 1986, pg. 203), and
time-of-concentration t of the catchment is estimated to equal 15 minutes. Coefficients a and
b for the rainfall intensity-duration relation given by Equation (2) for 50-year recurrence
interval rainfall in Charlotte, North Carolina, are found by Froehlich (1993) as a = 6723, and b
= 25.2 for intensity in millimeters per hour and storm duration td in minutes. Because total
runoff from the catchment will be relatively small and the area draining to the station has
little chance of increasing substantially, two pumps of equal size will be used, but they will be
considered to operate in unison as a single pump producing a constant outflow Q0. Based on
pumps used for stations serving similar sized catchments, the maximum number of starts per
hour for these pumps is estimated to be 10, giving a minimum pump cycling time Tmin = 6
minutes. The minimum pump cycling volume, which occurs when the inflow is constant and
equals one-half the pump capacity (Tchobanoglous, 1981, pg. 354), is given by Vt = Qo.
Tmin/4
The relative minimum cycling volume is computed as Vt* = V + (Q't) = 0.25 X Q0 T*min,
where T*mjn = ÷ t. Setting Va = Vt*, the needed relative storage volume V becomes a
function of only the relative pump discharge Qfor a given rainfall coefficient b. For the
Charlotte catchment and a 50-year recurrence interval rainfall b* = b + t = 25.2 + 15 = 1.68,
i(t) = 6723 ÷ (15 + 25.2) = 167 mm/br, Q = k x C x i(t) x A = 0.00278 x 0.55 x 167 x 14.2 = 3.63
m3/s, V = Q x t = 3267 m3, T*mjn = 6 + 15 = 0.4, and V =0.25 x Q0* x 0.4 = 0.1 x Q* where k =
0.00278 is a conversion factor. The solution is obtained quickly for a given value of Q0* by
finding the relative peak inflow to the station Q* directly using Equations (7), (10), and (15),
and the relative critical storm duration td provided by Equation (4). The controlling operating
condition (I, II, or III) can then be determined from the constraints given by Equations (8) and
(11). Relative storage volume Vs* needed to accommodate the selected recurrence interval
storm is given by the appropriate operating condition equation (that is, Equation 3, 9, or 12).
The solutions for values of Q0t ranging from 0.05 to 1.0 are presented in Table 1, and values
of total relative storage volume V computed as a function of relative pump discharge Q0* are
illustrated in Figure 4. Note that for Q0* 0.75, operating condition II controls and Vs* is
limited by the activation storage volume Va*. Dimensional solution values are found for Q0*
= 0.200 (for example) as follows: Q0 = 0.200 x 3.63 = 0.726 m3/s, Va = 0.01 x 3267 32.67 m3,
Q = 0.538 X 3.63 = 1.95 m3/s, td* = 3.301 x 15 = 49.5 mm, and V9* = 1.008 x 3267 = 3293
m3. The combination of Q0 and V that safely accommodates the 50-year runoff at the lowest
cost can then be found by an economic analysis of several possible design variants. The
solution to this example problem for Burton's "optimal" operating condition is found from
Equations (14), (16), (17), and (18) as Q* = 0.825, Q* = 0.608, td = 3.247, Va* = 0.224, and V
=0.769.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

Design of stormwater pump stations is complicated by the many combinations of parameters
that are possible. Even the most basic pump station serving a small catchment requires a
thorough evaluation to find the design having the least cost. A procedure was developed for
rapidly finding the required storage volume for small pump stations where a constant
discharge can be assumed and the inflow hydrograph can be represented using the modified
rational method with rainfall given by a widely-used intensityduration relation for which
coefficients can be readily obtained for any location in the United States This procedure
provides conservative estimates of runoff storage volume needed for stations with multiple
pumps having staged on/off settings. For given values of pump discharge and activation
storage volume three likely operating conditions were evaluated. Additionally, an optimal
solution that minimizes total storage volume for arbitrary discharge was found for the
operating condition suggested by Burton (1980). The sizing procedure is illustrated in an
example application in which total storage volume is found for a station draining a small 14.2
hectare catchment where pump activation volume is set equal to the minimum pump cycling
volume. Accepting the limitations of the modified rational method and the simplifications
applied to pump station operation, the procedure provides an uncomplicated way of rapidly
finding the relation between pump capacity and temporary storage volume for small
stormwater pump stations. The results can be used as a final solution or as an initial estimate
for more complex calculations.