Restoring water supply for a rural farmer
Our client
Our client is a utility company.
The location is a rural village in England.
The reed bed – both measure 9m x 29m – and form part of a sewage treatment works.
Our situation
Severn Trent Services told us about a farmer renting their client’s land and relying on natural spring water to feed his livestock. To facilitate this, a former pumping station system collected water in a tank before pumping it to another storage tank at the top of a hill. It then used gravity to supply water to the animal troughs.
However, this system had deteriorated, and the farmer started experiencing supply issues. That’s when we were asked to review the asset and deploy the necessary remedial work to get things working again.
Upon inspection, we discovered various problems. For example, the water tanks were cracked and leaking. The shed—housing pipework and electrics—was beyond its useful life. Additionally, the harsh winters damaged the assets and froze the water.
Our job was to improve the condition of the asset, boost its resilience, make it more efficient to run, and ensure the farm livestock had a reliable source of spring water all year round.
Our approach
Our findings revealed that we needed to redesign the pumping station to protect it from extreme weather.
The most significant part of the project involved installing a new underground water tank to prevent the water from freezing. This required planning and executing the excavation of a large hole to accommodate the tank. Design calculations were also done to ensure that the tank would not float when filled with water—aided by a concrete plug—and to prevent the hole from caving in during the works.
An overflow pipe was installed to return excess water to the stream and prevent it from becoming stagnant when the tank is full. The original 1930s pipework was diverted to fill the new tank, the existing pump was reinstalled, and non-return valves were fitted.
The shed was taken down, and we installed a kiosk, reused the pump starter panels, fitted a new distribution board, and installed LED lighting, a new heater, and sockets. The new trash screens we installed now help to protect the pump, giving it longevity. A wood post-and-rail fence was assembled to prevent the new tank from being driven over, and there’s easy, ground-level access to the tank to make it safer and easier to maintain.
Obstacles we overcame
A remote location
Access to the site was limited because of its rural location, which prevented the use of heavy goods vehicles to excavate the large hole for the tank. To overcome this, we adopted a battered/stepped-back technique to stop the sides of the hole from collapsing.
Livestock onsite
We typically use heavy-duty track mats to protect driveways from being torn up during on-site construction. However, these can be slippy for cow and sheep hooves. Therefore, we created a new trackway for the farmer after the works, which he was delighted with.
Our impact
As a result of our work:
- The farmer has a new pumping station that is efficient and resilient in bringing natural spring water to feed the animals.
- The new pumping station is better protected from the harsh winters the farm experiences.
- The asset is easier and safer to access for future maintenance work.
Final word from our client
“We were really pleased with the results of the work that Oren Environmental delivered for us - the team delivered a great finished product that was on time and within budget. They also took really good care of our customer and ensured our operators were informed of the work being done. We'd definitely use Oren Environmental again.”
