ABSTRACT
Pumps and pumping calculations are discussed in detail in Basic Mathematics for Water and Wastewater Operators, and they are discussed here as well as in Water Treatment Operations: Math Concepts and Calculations because they are germane to many treatment processes, especially their influent and effluent operations. Pumping facilities and appurtenances are required wherever gravity cannot be used to supply water to the distribution system under sufficient pressure to meet all service demands. Pumps used in water and wastewater treatment are the same. Because the pump is so perfectly suited to the tasks it performs, and because the principles that make the pump work are physically fundamental, the idea that any new device would ever replace the pump is difficult to imagine. The pump is the workhorse of water/wastewater operations. Simply, pumps use energy to keep water and wastewater moving. To operate a pump efficiently, the operator or maintenance personnel must be familiar with several basic principles of hydraulics. In addition, to operate various unit processes, in both water and wastewater operations at optimum levels, operators should know how to perform basic pumping calculations.
