Oil and water have a talent for showing up together at the worst possible moments on a plant floor. After years working in water and environmental protection, I have seen how a thin sheen in wastewater can snowball into violations, equipment headaches, and community complaints. Oil-water separators are the...
Spend a day in a treatment plant during a rainstorm and you will never forget the rainbow sheen that shows up where it should not. As an environmental engineer, I have learned that getting oil out of water, consistently and within permit, saves money, headaches, and a fair bit...
I have spent enough cold nights standing over wet wells to appreciate how quietly sewage lifting systems keep entire plants and neighborhoods out of trouble. When they’re cared for, they hum along for years. When they aren’t, they fail loudly and expensively. What follows is how I extend system...
As an engineer with more than 15 years in water management, I’ve learned that the “invisible” parts of a city often matter most. Sewer networks don’t ask for attention, but when they falter, everyone feels it. I still remember a 2 a.m. storm call where a standby pump kicked...
In places where gravity can’t do the job, sewage lifting units quietly keep everything moving. I’ve watched stations go from headache-prone to rock-solid simply by choosing and tuning the right control mode. Dialed-in controls cut energy use, ease the maintenance load, and head off costly overflows—exactly what you need...
Keeping wastewater systems running smoothly when the flow is heavy with fats, oils, grease (FOG), and stubborn solids is a reality I run into often—and it can get messy fast. When these loads build up, they don’t just slow pumps; they trigger callouts, fines, and downtime. That’s exactly why...
Keeping fluid transfer systems honest is one of those unglamorous tasks that saves the day more often than it gets credit for. I’ve been on enough urgent callouts to know that a single backflow event can spiral into contamination, damaged equipment, and days of downtime—but I’ve also seen how...
Getting a sewage lifting tank sized right is one of those decisions that quietly determines whether your wastewater system runs smoothly or fights you every step of the way. I’ve seen undersized tanks cook pumps with endless starts and stops, and oversized ones stew into odor complaints and corrosion....
Clogging in lifting systems can bring operations to a halt faster than almost anything else—I’ve seen a smooth shift turn into an emergency call-out in minutes. Over time, we’ve found that the surest way to stay ahead of it is to understand why clogs form, then bake prevention into...