Calgary pumping station
9 min read

A new pumping station for Calgary


The demand for water increases with the number of inhabitants

Calgary is one of the fastest growing cities in Canada. It’s therefore no surprise that the city’s demand for drinking water is growing. To secure the supply of water, the city decided to build a new pumping station. KSB Canada supplied an optimum hydraulic system and perfectly configured pumps – ensuring the success of the project.

Established in 1875, the metropolis of Calgary is the main urban centre for the southern half of the province of Alberta. It is located in the foothills of the Canadian Rocky Mountains, at the confluence of the Bow and Elbow rivers. The city owes its rapid growth to its status as the centre of the Canadian oil industry. It is also internationally known for its annual rodeo in July and a large outdoor event called the Calgary Stampede. With a growing population of over 1.3 million people and the continuous development of industry and commerce, the ever-increasing demand of residents for drinking water must be met.

The Shaganappi Pump Station

The city’s main pumping station had to be replaced

To meet both the current and future demand for clean drinking water, in 2020 the City of Calgary embarked on a 35 million dollar project to replace the city’s main water pumping station. Built in 1978, the existing Shaganappi Pump Station provides drinking water to over 200,000 residents in Calgary and the surrounding communities. It is Calgary’s largest pumping station and an important part of the city’s water transport network, which consists of 41 pumping stations and 23 storage reservoirs connected by over 4,500 km of underground pipes. This large number of pumping stations and storage reservoirs is necessary due to Calgary’s diverse and often rugged topography, which divides the city into many smaller water pressure zones depending on their altitude.

Smooth transition from the old to the new facility

The City of Calgary owns and operates two water treatment plants: the Bearspaw Water Treatment Plant and the Glenmore Water Treatment Plant. These state-of-the-art treatment plants draw their water from the Bow River and Elbow River. The two plants together produce a total of 950,000 cubic metres of drinking water per day. The treated water is stored at the treatment plants before being pumped into the mains water network for distribution across the city. The Bearspaw plant in the city’s Northwest district pumps water into three separate underground feeder mains, the largest of which is the South Feeder, Calgary’s largest and most important water supply main. The Shaganappi Pump Station takes water directly from the South Feeder and then splits the water flow, ensuring the necessary hydraulic pressure and pumping the water to the north and south of Calgary.

The existing Shaganappi Pump Station is over 40 years old and is showing various signs of ageing. Many of its mechanical and electrical components are now obsolete, making them difficult to operate and maintain. Given the crucial function of this pumping station and the extensive upgrades that would have been necessary to ensure its efficiency and reliability, the decision was taken to replace the existing pumping station with a new one.

The new Shaganappi Pump Station was completed in March 2022 and is located around 200 metres west of the old facility. This allows the city to continue to use most of the existing underground infrastructure, including the original 1950 mm diameter piping connection to the South Feeder. The location was also chosen to keep construction costs low and to minimise disruption to the water supply system and surrounding communities, enabling a smooth transition from the old to the new facility.

Pumpe der Baureihe RDLO00

Redundant design safeguards operation even in emergencies

Calgary’s water pumping stations are considered critical infrastructure. They therefore have a redundant design so that they can continue to operate in emergency situations. The old Shaganappi Pump Station uses natural gas engines to power stand-by pumps in the event of a power failure. The new pumping station uses a 944 kW natural gas generator that can provide power to one or more pumps in the event of a power outage. The use of natural gas generators in the new pumping stations is an efficient, flexible and reliable solution that meets the city’s requirements for a secure supply of water.

KSB Canada wins challenging tender

In late 2017, the city issued a call for tenders to find a suitable provider to supply pumps and drives for the existing and new water pumping stations. KSB Canada successfully participated in the rigorous bidding process and was awarded the contract in May 2018. The contract comprised the supply of pumps and drives for the new Shaganappi Pump Station project as well as other projects such as retrofitting the Palliser Drive Pump Station.

“The older Palliser Drive project allowed us to demonstrate the capabilities and advantages of our Omega pumps to the City of Calgary,” reports Pasha Barazandeh, Regional Sales Manager for KSB Pumps Inc. in Canada. “For this project, we supplied two electrically driven pumps and one pump driven by a natural gas engine to meet a pumping demand of up to 60,000 cubic metres per day. The city was very satisfied with our products and twelve months on everything is still running well.”

Sectional drawing of an Omega series pump

KSB’s experts were able to exceed required operating parameters

While the Palliser Drive Pump Station project was underway, the consultants worked out the details for the new Shaganappi Pump Station. The requirements for Shaganappi included the supply of three large RDLO 600-600 pumps, each rated at 80,000 cubic metres per day, and three smaller Omega 300-560 pumps, each rated at 30,000 cubic metres per day, giving the station a capacity of 220 cubic metres per day. This allows for a total maximum capacity of 330,000 cubic metres per day when all six pumps are in operation. However, such a situation is not expected. “80 percent of the time, only one of the two pump types will be operating, supplying two different pressure zones for the water supply system,” explains Pasha Barazandeh.

One challenge for KSB was the size of the natural gas generator in the new pumping station. The pumps and their power input were configured so that they would exceed the required operating parameters. To achieve this, KSB’s engineers had to modify the hydraulic system of the pump to ensure the best efficiency at the most frequently occurring operating points,” explains Barazandeh. “This has allowed us to achieve the lowest life cycle costs and optimum operating reliability.”

Pumps proven in water applications around the globe

The City of Calgary’s specifications required between-bearings, axially split centrifugal pumps. Other specific requirements included suction and discharge nozzles with integrally cast flanges to ANSI/ASME B16.1. The impeller diameter was not permitted to be reduced to less than 98 percent of an untrimmed impeller. The casing wear rings on both impeller suction sides also had had to be replaceable. In addition, a number of specific material requirements had to be met in order to comply with national and international standards for handling drinking water.

Having proven themselves in many water applications around the globe, the RDLO and Omega pumps were judged by the customer to be highly suitable for their specific requirements. KSB’s axially split RDLO and Omega single volute casing pumps feature a double-entry radial impeller and are ideally suited to the requirements of water pumping stations. They transport fluids with a minimum of flow resistance, thus reducing the energy and life cycle costs of the systems in which they are used. CFD-optimised hydraulic systems deliver both the best operating point and operating efficiency levels of over 86 percent.

Rapid response, technical expertise and professional management ensure success

The double-entry impeller balances the axial forces so that the load on the maintenance-free bearings is minimal. The combination of solid bearing brackets, a short and rigid shaft and preloaded bearings guarantees low vibration levels and a long service life for the bearings, seals and coupling. The axially split volute casing pumps simplify maintenance work as all the parts are easily accessible for thorough inspection. The drive can be mounted on both the left and right of the pump without requiring additional parts or modifications to the casing.

From the tendering process right through to the construction of the new pumping station, KSB Canada worked closely with the City of Calgary, the engineering consultant (Associated Engineering) and the building contractor (Graham Infrastructure LLP). KSB Canada played an important role in the project by providing a fast response, technical support and project management. “We were confronted with a very challenging tender from the City of Calgary,” Barazandeh explains. “We selected the most suitable and proven pump types and tailored them to the city’s specifications. Providing an optimum hydraulic system to meet or even exceed these requirements, as well as configuring the pumps for the specific operating conditions were key factors in the success of the project.”

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