“Happy Pumps” and Self-Cleaning Wetwells From Planning to Pumping – Nashville’s 50 mgd Whites Creek Pumping Station is Online

After 7 years of planning, design and construction, the 50 million gallon per day (mgd) Whites Creek Pumping Station (WCPS) is online, replacing the undersized and unreliable 16.5 mgd circa-1960’s station and bringing one of Nashville’s most chronic sanitary sewer overflows (SSO) into compliance with the requirements of Metro Water Services’ (MWS) Consent Decree.As wastewater infrastructure continues to age and utilities are faced with regulatory mandates to eliminate SSOs, more municipalities will be embarking on similar multi-year projects to identify and implement solutions to these challenges.This paper summarizes the highlights of each phase of this completed project from planning through current operation including the self-cleaning, trench-style wetwells and pump selection based on thorough and realistic hydraulic evaluations.The WCPS exceeds its required capacity, there have been zero SSOs at the site in the 9 months it’s been online, and its pumps are operating at or near their best efficiency points (BEP).