Global Pump Aids in Flood Relief
Global Pump recently returned to school in its flood relief efforts at Clemson University in the wake of flooding from Hurricane Joaquin.
The Category 4 hurricane only made landfall in the Bahamas; however, areas of South Carolina recorded record-setting flooding reaching up to two feet in parts resulting from blown out dams.
Though its main campus was spared from the brunt of the rainfall, Robert Wells, Chief Facilities Officer at Clemson University in Clemson (SC) reached out to Global Pump with a need for preventive flood relief on a weekend during which the campus hosted a nationally-televised football game.
“Bob called us late Friday afternoon, regarding flood prevention,” said Global Pump Account Manager, Rich Kelly. “He was concerned that a pump station on the outskirts of campus would need some assistance keeping up with the stormwater.”
Kelly and his team determined that Wells would need four Global Pump 18GSTAP diesel-driven pumps tied in to independent 18-inch HDPE discharge lines with a discharge run approximately 600 feet from the pumps. These pumps pull from the basin that fed the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) pump station, pumping up and over a 60 foot high earth dam into Lake Hartwell.
“We were able to talk to the officials at Clemson and get an understanding of not only their suction and discharge points, but also their delivery schedule requirements, campus layout and where we might install equipment that would be effective for relief, but non-obtrusive to any campus traffic flow. These types of considerations allow us to reinforce our value as pump specialists, and not just general equipment rental providers,” said Kelly.
As requested, pump delivery occurred first thing Sunday morning, October 4th, and job setup continued on-schedule. Though the stormwater did not compromise the pump station, University officials were granted the permits necessary to test backup pump performance. Upon successful testing, the equipment was quickly dismantled.
“Our goal was to provide relief at 20,000 gallons per minute, but we were actually able to reach 21,600 gallons per minute,” Kelly said.
“After the rain event using Global Pump, we now know that temporary supplemental pumping is a viable mitigation tool to minimize or prevent damage to physical campus assets; however, Clemson is studying the exercise along with the USACE in detail to decide when to pull the trigger should the need arise again,” said Wells.
Global Pump is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Mersino Group, a single source for pumping services, contract dewatering, one-pass trenching, power generation and drilling.