Water has always been the most vital resource for any civilization. All modern and ancient cities have largely been built around a source for water. There are many reasons water is important to us, we need it to live, and we can use it for trade and food. But what does a city do when they have outgrown the water supply in their area? How are they to cope when they only have a supply for thousands when they need one for tens of thousands? Luckily not only has irrigation improved over the years but we also now have the ability to pump water from virtually anywhere. This is how many cities, especially in the western U.S. survive. They are able to pump water from underground, or nearby rivers, lakes, and other bodies of water to supply their populace with potable water. Pumps have been one of the largest breakthroughs to allow cities to be built nearly anywhere. It is what has allowed us to build huge cities in desert areas such as Phoenix and Las Vegas. Water pumps also allow us to move water out of places we don’t want it. In an example, the city of New Orleans, which sits below sea level uses water pumps to get water out of the city. Of course, with it being near the bottom of the Mississippi River watershed, too much water tends to be the problem rather than too little as is usually the case in most other places.

WATER PUMP

Yes, modern cities almost have to use water pumps to keep their city hydrated. Even cities surrounded by water must pump that water to a treatment facility where it can be treated as most of the water quality of natural water is not suitable for human consumption. Afterward, it is often pumped to a tower or cistern, where it will be spread throughout a building, neighborhood, or town to be used later.  Of course, the process is a little more complicated than that. Water pumps must be maintained and set in the most appropriate place. As always we want them to be able to do as little work as possible because this will be cheaper and more cost effective in the long run. The goal is to have to move water as short of a distance as possible which will save energy and therefore money.

Control cabinets and pump control

Most large cities have a tank or cistern located near the top of their building that holds thousands of gallons of water. A pump carries water through pipes and dumps it into the cistern. Typically pumps have controls which are housed in a pump control cabinet to which are tamper resistance and keep anyone from getting to the analytical instrument enclosure. This allows the pump station to have less security, and not require a full-time pump station security guard. Which is again, more cost-effective in the long run. There are many different types of control enclosures and cabinets for engineers to consider suitable the application. Which level of protection of NEMA enclosures or IP rating cabinets do you need? Are water resistance enclosures and cabinets enough?, should it be protected up to the level of Heavy spray down water resistance? need waterproof enclosures and boxes? or even really need submersible enclosures?. These are the question you should find out for the best solution for the application. Over or under protection can cost you money and can harm your equipment.

The biggest issue is typically water quality. Finding drinkable water is often the most difficult part, instead, it is often easier to clean the water with chemicals and filters to create drinkable water. This process of treating water is very important. Analytical equipment is usually kept on site to determine whether water is safe to drink and use. After all, we use it to bathe, wash our dishes and clothes, to cook with, and of course, drink. Our families and pets depend on our water not only being delivered to us safe and also clean. This equipment is vital and must be protected from all kinds of outside elements. Dirt, bacteria, and numerous other things can easily get into our water supply or even the machines that control the delivery of our water. All of these machines themselves must also be protected from water damage. The control cabinets must protect from all of these elements and human or animal tampering.

Protection needed

Due to the nature of the equipment used to pump water, it is important that much of it be able to withstand being wet. It will almost surely come into contact with water during the span of its use as this is its main purpose. In cities such as New Orleans where it’s vital to keeping the water out, it must be able to be safely housed and protected away from water even though it may be rising. One needs to only look at the catastrophe of Hurricane Katrina when it struck the city to know how important it is for the pumps and their controls to be constantly able to work and keep up with the demand the city puts on it.  The water supply and infrastructure must also be protected to keep up with the supply city demands of water.

Water is likely the main necessity of life. Because of this, it is very important that in today’s modern societies we have access to it. With the advent of indoor plumbing, this makes it much easier and more feasible to do. This also means that vast quantities of water must not only be found and treated for use but also can be transported long distances so that our modern society can use it. After all, it does no good for there to be a large amount of useable water several tens of miles away. We need it in our homes, at our work, and within most facets of our lives. Pumps and pump technology are vital to keeping our cities functioning at even the most basic level. Because of this the various components used to control and analyze what’s happening within these pump systems must be housed and protected is not only affordable but also secure ways protecting from a variety of possible failures. Without the water that these systems provide, we would simply not have the ability to support the mass amounts of people that are often found in our modern cities. But having this technology is not just a necessity, it is also something that has made our life much easier and allowed us to focus our time on other pursuits which have allowed us to make great leaps and bounds within our society as a whole.