flow meter for sanitary sewer line

[NCCaryME]

Our new facility is being asked by the city to install flow meters on our (2) sanitary sewer lines. As of now, they have no way to measure the amount of wastewater that we pump to them for treatment. I think that an ultrasonic flow meter (Endress-Hauser Prosonic) would work well, but what we really want is reasonable accuracy but very low cost. Can someone suggest a low-cost way to measure (totalize) the flow out of our wastewater pumps?

Thanks in advance.

 

[RWF7437]

You can also use pump hour meters on the pumps to estimate the flows with reasonable accuracy. It is even possible to use the existing electric meters ( assuming the pumps are driven by electric motors) at the pump station to do the same thing. Recording meters will work best probably but telemetry is also a great way to transmit this data directly to the City.

Why not ask the City what they do to monitor their other pumps stations ?

good luck

 

[NCCaryME]

I asked the city, but this is new for them too. This is a tiny, tiny town, and we are by far their biggest single client (~150 employees).

We're currently using the pump hours, and estimating the flow from the pump curve and pressure gauges. The city does not seem satisfied with this as a permanent solution, however.

 

[RWF7437]

Pump hours are pretty good. How accurately does the City think it needs to know flows, one wonders. Does the City monitor any other flows from other users ? Depending on how the City charges for sewer service, can you estimate how accurate the flows need to be ? Doesn't make sense to spend $100 per gpm to measure flows to 0.001 gpm, does it? What about nearby, larger Cities ? Do they have similar measuring requirements and how have they solved this question ?

Many Cities simply use metered water use, seasonally adjusted, to set and charge sewer service rates. Does the City also require sampling to measure sewage strength since that also affects treatment cost ?

good luck