Moving sewage in an efficient and safe manner is important for public health. If sewer mains are obstructed or control systems fail, the lines could back up into homes and businesses and destroy property. Pump stations for municipal sewer collection systems, also called lift stations, are designed to handle raw sewage that is fed from underground gravity pipelines. The pump stations move wastewater to higher elevations to use gravity to its advantage.

In a Pump Station, sewage is fed into and stored in an underground pit, commonly referred to as a wet well. Electrical instrumentation is installed to detect the level of sewage (and if necessary to activate an alarm if there are any technical problems). When the level rises to a predetermined point, a pump will be started to lift the sewage upward through a pressurized pipe system (sewer force main or rising main) from where it is discharged into a gravity manhole again. From here, the cycle starts all over again until the sewage reaches its point of destination – usually a water treatment plant.

Sun State Systems collaborated with Clay County Utility Authority to build a control solution that could meet the demand of a large neighborhood and keep things flowing smoothly.