High water levels have caused the retaining wall at a bend in the river to collapse, leading the Environment Agency to instruct Severn Trent to make urgent repairs. Abergavenny-based contractor, Alun Griffiths Civil Engineering & Construction, has been appointed to carry out the repairs – valued at £0.5m – and hired six 8” diesel driven Super Wispasets from Sykes Pumps to provide a dry working area for the project team.
Sykes Pumps delivered and commissioned all six pumps to site, along with seven fuel cubes and a complex configuration of pipework totalling 420m, including both straight and flexible wire armour lengths.
Alun Griffiths will run the pumps around the clock while the project is ongoing. Any water ingress during working hours presents a safety risk to the team and any water ingress out of hours could jeopardise the integrity of the completed work. To ensure that all six pumps operate efficiently in the demanding working environment, Sykes Pumps is sending an engineer to check and maintain the pumps every two days throughout the programme.
“Our hire agreements usually include fortnightly maintenance visits but for this project the continuous running of the pumps and the business critical nature of the application lead us to increase the level of engineering support,” said Sykes Pumps sales director Chris Graham. “The pumps specified will keep the working area safe and dry while their quiet operation will ensure that nuisance noise does not become a problem for the residents of nearby houses, which the scheme has been designed to protect.”
The over-pumping operation is expected to last a total of six weeks, with the water pumped downstream throughout the programme.
Mike Davies from Alun Griffiths Contractors added: “The repair work to the river embankment is critical to safeguarding Welshpool from flooding and a reliable over-pumping operation is integral to our ability to get the job done safely and quickly. Sykes Pumps has supported us with specification advice, delivery to site, set up and ongoing maintenance, to ensure we keep the programme on track.”
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