The final part of a multi-million pound flood alleviation project for Carlisle is finished and ready for action.
Two huge new storm pumps have been installed at United Utilities' wastewater treatment works in Willowholme and were switched-on ahead of schedule on September 29.
The massive pumps will mean huge amounts of storm water can be pumped safely into the River Eden during periods of intense rain, even when the river is high. The £3.4m project should help protect Carlisle from the sort of devastating floods which hit 3,000 city homes in January 2005.
United Utilities customer director Gary Dixon said:
"Since 2005, our engineers have carried out a lot of work on Carlisle's sewer system to make it better able to cope with severe storms. We have upgraded almost 4km of pipes in both Willowholme and Warwick Road so that they can hold much more rain water. The new pumps mean we can get rid of it even when river levels are high."
One of the Archimedean screw pumps being lowered into place earlier this summer.
Work started on the pumping station earlier this year. The two pumps themselves consist of huge specially-made steel Archimedean screws able to lift and shift 3,200 litres of water every second between them. Each enormous "screw" is ten metres long, 2.6m in diameter and ten tonnes in weight.
Project manager Geoff Durkin said state-of-the-art monitoring equipment meant the pumps started working automatically the moment water reached a certain level. Each pump will be tested weekly as part of a maintenance regime, even during dry weather.
United Utilities is one of a number of organisations to carry out flood alleviation works in Carlisle since the 2005 floods and is planning to invest £3.6bn in water and wastewater systems like Carlisle's across the North West by 2015.
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