Saving the Ever Glades a Gallon at a Time: South Florida agency commissions massive pumping station as part of water management network; 92,984 hp between 36 pumping stations preserves Everglades ecosystem and Florida residents

Diesel Progress North American Edition, Nov, 2001 by Brent Haight

The South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) commissioned a record-size pumping station in western Palm Beach, Fla., earlier this year, to help move cleansed storm water runoff back into the Everglades. The G-310 pump station and its companion G-335 station have a combined pumping capacity of 3040 cu.ft. per second, or nearly 2 billion gallons per day. To put it in perspective, that's enough water to fill 3558 Olympic-size swimming pools in one day.

Each station has four Flowserve Pump Division vertical water pumps -- two electric and four diesel. Two pumps an each station are powered by 10-cylinder, 38-1/8 opposed-piston Fairbanks-Morse diesel engines rated 1700 hp at 720 rpm. Two pumps are powered by six-cylinder, 38-1/8 opposed piston Fairbanks-Morse diesel engines rated 1020 hp at 720 rpm. The two electric pumps in each station are powered by 200 hp U.S. Motor electric motors. The diesel engines drive the pumps through custom-built Philadelphia gearboxes with a drop-down ratio of 7:1.

Both the G-310 and G-335 stations are formed suction inlet pumps. Each incorporates two aircraft-like propellers powered by the diesel engines, which create a vacuum inside a large intake pipe that pulls in the water from the lower canal side of the pumping station. The water is pushed through the pipe out into the storage area on the other side. A screen is located at the front of the intake to prevent weeds, rocks and other debris from being pulled into the system.

"There is a lot of history with the Fairbanks-Morse engines used in those stations," said Fred Remen, division director of field operations for the Central Region of the SFWMD. "Two of the engines were taken out of nuclear submarines. They were used as emergency generators so they had very low operating hours. We are reusing the block and the crankshafts, everything else is new.

"The engines are high shock blocks," Remen added. "They were built to be able to withstand the shock of depth charges, so they are meant to take more shock than a regular commercial engine."

The engines are cooled through a stainless steel plate and frame heat exchanger. "The opposed piston engine is an ideal choice for vertical pump applications due to its ability to operate at high load factors, even at low speeds," Remen said. "Because the engines are air-in-the-cylinders-to-start engines, we are able to start under load and complete the priming cycle without the need for a clutching mechanism."

The new stations are part of the Everglades Construction Project, a combination of constructed wetlands, canals, levees and pump stations designed to reduce the nutrients in storm water runoff from the Everglades Agricultural Area, over 10 sq.mi. (7000 acres) of former sugarcane fields that have been converted to wetland treatment systems designed to reduce phosphorous loads entering the Everglades.

"We are building natural filter marshes that remove the phosphorus from the water," said Remen. "It's a natural water treatment system that uses plants to remove phosphors from storm runoff so we can return it to the Everglades. The new pump stations allow us to move cleaner, better quality water into the northernmost component of the Everglades ecosystems, the Loxahatchee Wildlife Refuge."

According to Remen, the SFWMD pumps water for three reasons -- flood control, water storage and environmental enhancement. "Preserving and restoring the Everglades is only part of our job," said Remen. "The SFWMD started pumping water about 45 years ago to control flooding. The system was designed to get rid of water. Stations were engineered to remove a specific amount of water in a 24 hr. period. Now we have six million people living within the 16 counties we serve and they use a lot of water. Now we are faced with water supply issues. We need more water storage.

"We currently have 36 stations on line. A majority of those stations are for flood control. We have different kinds of pumps. We have strictly electric powered pumps which we utilize for smaller pumping needs. We have very large pumping stations, like the G-310 and G-335. In our larger pumping stations, we get up into 900-plus hp diesel engines. Most of the engines used in those stations are opposed piston FairbanksMorse engines, but there are also some Cat 3600 series engines and a few Cummins four-cycle, turbocharged N14-Ps. Twenty of the 36 stations currently on line are the large capacity pumping stations. With the diesel engines, we average 30,000 hr. between major overhauls per station.

"We also have emergency pumps that are powered by Detroit Diesel 8V-92 diesel engines. We have those for quick deployment in emergency situations."

Each pumping station is monitored around the clock by personnel at an operations control center in West Palm Beach. The SFWMD has telemetry that monitors water levels and flows throughout the 16 counties. "We have a control center similar to what you'd see for an electrical utility," said Remen. "We have the whole system as a grid on the wall showing which stations are on-line.