The centre of the town of Rotherham in South Yorkshire suffered significant flooding following extreme rainfall in June 2007 and November 2019, affecting hundreds of homes and businesses, writes Helen Wilson, industry & infrastructure sales manager at Xylem.
In response, Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council is undertaking a significant package of flood defence measures to protect the community from future events and to reduce the risk of flooding from the River Don and its tributaries.
The programme includes construction of a major new stormwater pumping station in the car park of Rotherham United Football Club in Don Street.
The solution
The council’s main project contractor, Breheny Civil Engineering, selected Xylem technology for the station’s pumping system:
- Three Flygt CP3501 stormwater pumps
- One NP3153 jockey pump
The pumps perform the critical task of pumping excess surface water downstream to a new outfall, where it is returned to the River Don during periods of heavy rainfall.
The pumping station powers-up when the water level in the River Don, behind the football stadium, rises above 24m during storms. On these occasions, a penstock located within an existing outlet chamber closes to prevent water flowing into the flood-risk area.
A penstock located upstream of the new pumping station opens, with flows diverted into a new chamber constructed next to the river. When stormwater in the chamber reaches a set level, the CP3501 pumps power-up to send flows via a concrete culvert to the new outfall and into the river downstream, away from the at-risk areas.
Each Flygt CP3501 pump is designed to manage 1,000l/s of stormwater and operates on a duty/assist/assist basis. When all three pumps are in operation, they can discharge at a rate of 3000l/s and could empty an Olympic-size swimming pool in 13 minutes. Each of the three main pumps discharge via 800mm internal diameter ductile iron pipework.
The NP3153 jockey pump removes small ingress flows from the chamber. The pump can discharge a minimum 100l/s per second and will power-up when water reaches a set, lower level. If levels keep rising, the main pumps will automatically kick in.
Xylem has been appointed by Rotherham MBC as the service and maintenance contractor for the pumping station and outfall.
John Coyne, project manager at Breheny Civil Engineering, said: “We were appointed to construct a new stormwater pumping station in the car park of Rotherham United Football Club to alleviate flooding in Rotherham town centre.
“The new pumping station is a major asset that will safeguard Rotherham town centre from future floods. The installation of high volume Xylem pumps was a significant milestone for the project, with each main pump capable of discharging 1,000 litres per second in full flow.
“This important infrastructure project is an example of great teamwork between the client, contractor and supply chain to deliver for the local community.”
