How it Works - Lift Stations

Metropolitan Council Environmental Services (MCES) operates the Minneapolis-St. Paul regional wastewater system.
This video will explain the purpose and operation of wastewater pumping stations, or "lift stations," which help transport wastewater from the local sanitary sewer system to regional wastewater treatment plants.

[@gokhanmeric2797]

I thank you for this video.

[@kennya5165]

That's gotta be a shitty job...

[@doc4153]

I drive past one of these every day, surrounded by a fence with a sign "Lift Station". Finally decided to look up what this is. Thanks!

[@skeeterskoville9226]

Saaaame brother. Same.

[@Patrick94GSR]

Lift stations, a.k.a. poop elevators lol. Thank goodness those access hatches are closed and locked. It probably would smell horrendous when they're open.

[@Musicmaster908]

It depends on how clean they are... If the lift station gets a lot of grease then yeah it can get funky in the wet well. If not, they have a fart type of smell until more air flow is presented to the space by either open hatches or an odor control method

[@JimCTSCLO]

This is an awesome video. Great work to all involved.

[@tobyandrews4187]

I used to work on lift stations in Panama City Florida. And lemme tell you they are n a s t y my friend. But it’s simple engineering. Jus nasty

[@Johndavid1451]

Wow, small world. I work at a company in Panama City that actually designs the lift stations used in the area lol.

[@bigdawg77]

I work on these stations for a small city, also in Florida. It's really not as bad as I thought it would be. I got over the smell on my first day, but cleaning up fresh dog shit still makes me gag.

[@itssquid435]

Anyone know by law how far these lift stations need to be from homes?

[@Johndavid1451]

There should be a minimum distance between lift stations and residential lots spelled out in your city/county's land development regulations. In my county, lift stations have to be located a minimum of 100-feet from any existing residentially designated lot.

[@thegreatdl6988]

If only youtube was available in the 80's, this video answered a question I had as a child (35 years ago). The only remaining question is why these stations sit on large parcels of land.

[@ctaney2254]

If the gravity sewer is to deep to connect to the existing sewer on the adjacent street, the developers need a lift station to raise it up. It’s typically used on larger sites because the grading forces the sewer deeper with more land being used

[@NightWraith1]

Also, in another article I just read, they are also kept away from population in general and kept isolated due to their propensity to explode and because of possible hydrogen sulfide buildup. So it's also a safety measure.

[@ctaney2254]

@@NightWraith1 Usually they're right below the streets. But if the sewer isn't flowing shit the right way then it piles up and produces methane, which can explode. It happened in Mexico city

[@brianpearl7504]

@@NightWraith1 We don't keep them away from populated areas in our town. They are where they are because that's the low spot. The only danger would be to the worker who services them. They need to have an air quality tester as well as a tripod and harness.

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[@geraldbull9272]

I am trying to find a site without racket in the background and a human talking properly, not like a robot.

[@johnw3609]

Thank you for the help

[@iteratedofficial]

haha

[@technologyfriends1589]

Can I know where cellular ack was done here

[@moisesalvarado7703]

Great video thank you

[@twin510]

Does anyone know if it smells? Im thinking of purchasing a home with one of these nearby.

[@jordanputnam6973]

Depends on the lift station. I've been to lift stations with no odor control and you can't smell them for the most part and others with all sorts of odor control solutions that still aren't helping because of how stinky they are.

[@Mapaholic22]

Does all the heavy waste get pumped too?

[@bigdawg77]

Depends on what you mean by heavy waste. Stuff you are supposed to flush doesn't stay heavy for long in the wet well, but a good majority of my job is cleaning out those "flushable" wet wipes after they get caught around the impellers and stuck in check valves. I'm sure a lot of the toys, tampon applicators, those liquor shooters and other shit that shouldn't be flushed makes it to the plant (I wouldn't know, I just work in the field) but in general they either float on the top until we suck it out using our vacuum truck or they get caught in the pumps and we have to pull them. I'm just a maintenance guy so I'm not entirely knowledgeable on the whole system (there's a lot of stuff to learn about wastewater) but I do work on lift stations specifically and this is my experience. It likely varies city to city, pump to pump, etc. our largest lift station pumps are 40 horsepower, a city near us pretty much solely has over 90 horsepower. I'm sure big cities with huge pumps will push about anything through.