Upgrade of Channel Monster® Cuts Wipes Problem and $78k From Electrical Bill

Santa Margarita Water District (SMWD) services over 170,000 residents and businesses and maintains over 1,300 miles of water and sewer lines across a 62,674-acre service area. Keeping up with the water and sewage-disposal needs of the growing community has significant challenges, particularly due to the increase in influent and change in the makeup and durability of the sewage.

The facility initially relied on a mechanically cleaned bar screen to remove debris. Over time, the bar screen was replaced by a CMD single-drum Channel Monster® from JWC Environmental® that would shred debris before it reached the pumps, preventing clogs or damage. Ron Johnson, facilities supervisor for the SMWD facility, said pump clogging hadn’t been an issue when the Channel Monster was installed in the ‘90’s— but that changed when the influent became heavily loaded with disposable wipes. “We have a bank of four VFD controlled pumps at the facility, and typically we run an alternating cycle with two pumps operating and then switching to ensure equal runtime for all the pumps,” Johnson says. “This operating sequence with the pumps modulating around 50 Hz kept up with plant flow requirements. But starting in about 2012, the pumps would begin to lose efficiency as the wipes loading increased, and we would have to run all four pumps to maintain plant production. Once they reached 60 Hz, we would need to shut down the plant to derag the pumps.” The deragging process took place every two to six weeks, requiring two operators for about two hours each time to complete the task. “And due to some aging isolation valves that leaked, the plant needed to be entirely shut down during deragging,” Johnson says.