DESIGN OF WET WELL

Presented by
NAYAN CHANDRAKANT GANJI
MTECH ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING
ENROLLMENT NO: MT22ENV015

2022-23
VISVESVARAYA NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, NAGPUR.
 LAYOUT OF THE PRESENTATION
• Introduction
• Function of Wet Well
• Types of pumping station
• Basic design principle
• Problems arising due to poor design of Wet Well
• Selection of pump
• Size of a wet well
• Advantages and Disadvantages of wet well
 INTRODUCTION
• Let us first start with understanding what is Wet Well, Wet Well used as a
wastewater solution, holding raw sewage in one place until it is ready to be
moved to the next step in the wastewater treatment process. Fig 1.1 Gives a
proper illustration of location and function of Wet well

Fig 1.1 Wet well

• It plays a critical part in the overall function of urban, residential, and country
living. Basically, Wet Well can be considered as temporary storage for
water/sewage before it is pumped out.
 FUNCTION OF WET WELL
They are usually provided for sewage and stormwater pumping. They work as a
pumping station and they serve the following functions:

 They assist in the fluctuations of flow Caused due to variation of sewage

discharge.

 The wet wells serve as sump pits and can be employed for the control of opening
and closure of pumps.

 Wet Well (also called lift stations) are used to move wastewater to higher
elevations in order to allow transport by gravity flow.
 NECESSITY OF WET WELL
Need of Sewer pumping station arises when:
 The existing topography and required minimum sewer grades create deep
sewers that have high construction costs. The sewage is raised and then
conveyed by gravity.
 Basements are too low to discharge sewage to the main sewer.
 Sewage must be conveyed over a ridge.
 The sewage must be raised to get head for gravity flow through a treatment
plant.
 Discharge outlets are below the level of the receiving body of water.
 TYPES OF PUMPING STATION
There are two types of common pump stations i.e.
 Dry well or Dry pit
In dry well pumps and valves are located in separate pump rooms for easy access
and wet well is a separate isolated chamber attached or located near to the dry well
(pump room).Basically, pump and the well are separated in the dry well
 TYPES OF PUMPING STATION
 Wet well or submersible pump
In submersible pump stations there is no separate pump room, submersible pump
stations include sealed pumps that operate submerged in the wet well
 TYPES OF PUMPING STATION
 Key advantage in dry well is that it provides easy access for routine visual
inspection and maintenance
 Key advantage in wet well is that it includes lower cost than dry well and also it
requires lesser above ground structure
 BASIC DESIGN PRINCIPLE
• First of all, Sewage is fed into and stored in an underground pit which we call
as wet well. To detect the level of sewage (and if necessary to activate an alarm
if there are technical problem) an electrical instrument is used. When level
rises to predetermined point, pump starts working and lift the sewage upward
and discharged into Sewers.

• Although Wet Well is considered like a simple tub for holding stormwater or
sewage, but poor design of wet well can cause problems many problems
PROBLEMS ARISING DUE TO POOR DESIGN OF WET WELL

 Sewage as a foul characteristics poor design could cause odour problems.

 Sewage as lots of suspended particle which may cause problem to pumps.
 Sewage contains pathogens which cause health problems.
 Poor design may led to leakage of sewage into ground water (Ground water
contamination), which will led to serious problems.
 At low topography area if wet wells are not working it could cause problem to
conduct the sewage to sewers
 There might be problem of solid deposition and scum entrapment.
 SELECTION OF PUMP
• Design of wet well starts with the selection pump. Wet-well design is
dependent on the type of pump station configuration (submersible or dry-well)
and the type of pump controls (constant or variable speed). Wet-wells are
typically designed large enough to prevent rapid pump cycling, but small
enough to prevent a long detention time and associated odor release. Wet-well
maximum detention time in constant speed pumps is typically 20 to 30
minutes. Use of variable frequency drives for pump speed control allows wet-
well detention time reduction to 5 to 15 minutes.
 POWER OF PUMP
• Power of pump can be calculated by expression given
 SIZE OF WET WELL
The volume of wet well is given by

• V = T × Q/4

where,
• V : Effective volume of wet well (in cubic meters)
• T : Time for one pump cycle (in minutes)
• Q : Pumping rate (cubic meters per minute)
 SIZE OF WET WELL
•The value of T is related to the number of starts per hour and it is not advisable to
exceed 6 starts per hour. Accordingly, the value of T in the design is to be taken as
10 minutes for smaller pump capacities but 15 minutes is desirable and hence, the
denominator in the equation is to be used as a value of 4.

•If we assume pumping capacity at peak flow for an example as 42 m3/min

•Pumping capacity at peak flow = 42 m3/min
•Time for one pump cycle = 15 min
•Volume required = 15 * 42 / 4 = 158 m3
•Possible depth below invert of sewer =2m
•Area needed = 158 / 2 = 79 m2
•Diameter needed = SQRT (4*79/3.14) = 10 m
 SIZE OF WET WELL
Assuming the height of the pump set as 1.2 m and floor clearance as 0.3 m the
minimum depth of the floor of the wet well below the invert of the sewer shall
be 2 + 1.5 = 3.5 m.
•It may be difficult to construct wet wells of 3.5 m deep below invert of incoming
trunk sewers which themselves may be at a depth of about 5 m to 6 m below
ground level. Moreover, designing and constructing the wet wells to be checked
for cracking stress in high water table areas may be not only difficult but may give
way to infiltration which will be a challenge to control later on.
•Thus, it becomes a problem of obtaining sufficient wet well volume at reasonable
cost.
 ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF WET WELL

Advantages: -
 Sewage can be pumped automatically to higher elevations.
 No contact with wastewater is necessary.

Disadvantages: -
 Very costly
 Local availability of construction material and spare parts
 Needs expert design
 References
1. Paschke N.W. Pump Station Basics – Design Considerations for a Reliable Pump Station. Operations
Forum, Vol. 14, No. 5, 15-20, May 1997.

2. Wastewater Technology Fact Sheet In-Plant Pump Stations - United States Environmental Protection
Agency Office of Water Washington, D.C. - EPA 832-F-00-069 September 2000

3. DESIGN EVALUATION OF A DUPLEX CIRCULAR WET WELL PUMPING STATION UNDER

STEADY STATE AND DYNAMIC OPERATING CONDITIONS. by James Thomas Mailloux A Thesis
Submitted to the Faculty of the WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE In partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Environmental Engineering.

4. CHAPTER 4 DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF SEWAGE PUMPING STATIONS AND SEWAGE

PUMPING MAINS
5. Thomas Jenkins Appeared in print as "Wet Wells vs. Dry Wells" By Thomas E. Jenkins, P.E.- July 2016
THANK YOU