Lift Station Cleaning

A lift station is a pump system designed to move wastewater from a low point to a higher elevation where gravity can take it the rest of the way. Commercial properties, multi-family buildings, and industrial facilities often rely on them because the structure sits below the level of the municipal sewer or the septic drain field it connects to. Without the station working correctly, wastewater has nowhere to go.

What accumulates in the wet well

The wet well, the below-grade collection pit at the center of the system, accumulates solids and grease along with the wastewater it receives. The float switches that trigger the pumps sit inside that pit, and they need to read the liquid level accurately to do their job. Grease coating on a float switch is the most common cause of a pump that runs when it should not, or does not run when it should.

The cleaning process

Cleaning a lift station means emptying the wet well completely with a vacuum truck, then washing down the walls, floor, switches, and accessible pump components with high-pressure water. Once the pit is empty, it is possible to see things that are invisible during normal operation: concrete that has cracked from hydrogen sulfide corrosion, valve stems that are stiff, guide rails that have rusted through, pump seals that are beginning to fail. Spotting those during a cleaning is inexpensive compared to finding them during an overflow.

What happens when cleaning is skipped

Neglected lift stations do not just fail slowly. When they go, they go completely, and the consequences reach further than the property line. An overflow that reaches a waterway or adjacent land is a reportable environmental incident. The regulatory exposure, combined with emergency service rates and any cleanup costs, adds up to a number that dwarfs the cost of a regular maintenance schedule.

For commercial operators, the business disruption is often worse than the regulatory exposure. A restaurant or food-processing facility with a non-functional lift station cannot continue operating. The revenue loss during an unplanned shutdown, combined with emergency service rates, almost always exceeds the cost of a years-long cleaning schedule.