ABSTRACT
With few exceptions, the 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 and/or maintenance operator 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.
Because water must be stored or kept moving in water supplies and wastewater must be collected, processed, and discharged (outfalled) to its receiving body, we must consider some basic relationships with regard to the weight of water. One cubic foot of water weighs 62.4 pounds and contains 7.48 gallons. One cubic inch of water weighs 0.0362 pounds. Water 1 foot deep will exert a pressure of 0.43 pounds per square inch (psi) on the bottom area (12 in. × 0.062 lb/in.3). A column of water 2 feet high exerts 0.86 psi, one 10 feet high exerts 4.3 psi, and one 52 feet high exerts
