This chapter is intended to facilitate engineering and design of water booster pumping stations by consultants or WSSC personnel. It provides the basic requirements and design features, both mechanical and electrical, for small and medium size water booster pumping stations (up to about 25 mgd).

Booster pumping stations are installed to increase the pressure in a pipeline or in a zone of the distribution system, to aid in meeting peak demands such as fire demands, to supply water to elevated storage tanks and for other purposes. The booster pumping stations covered here fall under the following two main categories:

(a) Booster pumping stations that draw suction from the system mains and/or storage reservoirs and pump into a distribution system with elevated storage and isolated from the remainder of the system by the pumping station and valving. These stations are necessitated because the pressure in the system mains served by other pumping stations is insufficient to meet the water demands in some zones because of topography and other factors. These stations generally operate on level control. (These types of stations will be referred to as “in-line booster stations.”)

(b) Booster pumping stations which draw suction from storage reservoirs which normally get filled from system mains and pump into the distribution system when the pressure in the distribution system normally fed from the system mains falls. These stations are necessitated because of the difficulty in getting elevated storage approved and built. These stations generally operate on pressure control. (These types of stations will be referred to as “booster stations with pumped storage.”)

This chapter does not cover hydraulic analysis study, criteria for determination of the type of station, siting, civil, structural and architectural aspects, chlorination facilities or storage reservoir design, though some references are made.

The pumping station shall, in general, accommodate the pumps, piping, valves, electrical, control and communication equipment, emergency generator (if standby power source is considered essential for the station and if reliable dual power feeds from the power company are not feasible) and chlorination system (if needed). (Amended during 2019 codification; 28-ME-DG-02 § 1)