A West End landmark is getting a hi-tech upgrade 120 years after it was built at the end of the Victorian era.
Partick Pumping Station in Glasgow sits on the banks of the River Kelvin at the western side of Partick Bridge.
Thousands of people travel past the ornate red sandstone building everyday but have likely never seen inside.
Scottish Water says Partick is one of more than 30 pumping stations being upgraded at the cost of £2 million by connecting it to a cloud-based digital app that provides alerts and data-driven insights.
Gravity
The pumping station is a key part of the city’s waste water infrastructure which still serves 170,000 people.
The station lifts flows from two major sewers sending it through to a gravity sewer which takes waste water to Dalmuir Waste Water Treatment Works (WWTW) in Clydebank for treatment.
The installation of state-of-the-art ’smart hardware’ will help Scottish Water operators view and manage pumping performance better - in sharp contrast to how the pumping station was operated when it opened in 1904 with the use of old steam-driven pumps.
The upgrade will enable the utility to improve the operability, efficiency and reliability of the pumping station, reduce energy consumption and help the company reach its Net Zero targets while continuing to protect the local environment, including the rivers Kelvin and Clyde.
Being able to see pump performance, energy usage, weather information and well levels, gives us confidence in managing our assets, and means we’re able to respond to emerging risks more quickly - Nathan Wield
Nathan Wield, Scottish Water’s wastewater operations manager, said: “We have installed this smart hardware at Partick Pumping Station to be able to view and manage pumping performance better, which is a long way from the old steam driven pumps that were originally installed in the station at the start of the 20th century.
“It’s 120 years old this year and this latest investment will be hugely important because it’ll enable us to monitor and better understand how one of our largest, critical assets is performing.
“Being able to see pump performance, energy usage, weather information and well levels, gives us confidence in managing our assets, and means we’re able to respond to emerging risks more quickly.
“Being able to do this 24-7 and remotely, by connecting this data to the cloud, means we have full visibility of the pumps performance data, which enables us to make better investment decisions and spend customers’ money more cost-effectively so we really do win on all fronts.
“Using this new technology at Partick means we are able to react to alerts on pump performance proactively, mitigating the risk of failures and, in turn, reducing the risk of a pollution spill, so the investment there is very significant.”
When opened by the Glasgow Corporation, the ornate B listed Renaissance red sandstone building in Dumbarton Road used three powerful steam-driven pumps.
These lifted sewage from the lower levels and propelled it through the city’s sewer system. Boilers generated the steam needed to power the pumps and, in addition to all the machinery that was required, the station housed a set of stables for horses, which were used to help with moving coal to heat water and create the steam for the pumps.
As technology advanced, the steam pumps were replaced in the 1960s by electric pumps and, in 2012, Scottish Water completed a major £2.3m upgrade of the pumping station to help protect the local environment and improve its efficiency.
Now Scottish Water has ambitions to improve its asset management strategy, reduce its energy consumption and reach its Net Zero targets by 2040 and, following the success of similar work at WWTWs, they are applying a similar solution to sewage pumping stations to help deliver these improvements.