Roadmap for a Successful Pump Audit and Efficiency Improvement Program

Large pumping systems are second only to aeration systems as the largest energy consumer at wastewater treatment facilities, and are by far the largest energy users in collections systems and water utilities. The intent of this paper is to provide a roadmap for utilities that wish to initiate a pump audit and efficiency improvement program.The U.S. EPA recently issued a widely-circulated manual entitled, “Ensuring a Sustainable Future: An Energy Management Guidebook for Wastewater and Water Utilities.” (USEPA, 2008) This guidebook relies on the “Plan-Do-Check-Act” model for energy management. The framework of the “Plan-Do-Check-Act model is generally applicable to improving the energy efficiency of existing pump stations. This roadmap seeks to improve the usefulness of the “Plan-Do-Check-Act” model by making it specific to the pump efficiency improvement process.