Do you think that you know what a Lift Station is? Is it:
a) A place to lift weights
b) The spot on the curb to stand to catch a cab
c) An elevator in England
d) The place where heavy equipment forcibly pumps sewage to a higher elevation so that it can flow using the force of gravity to a wastewater treatment plant.
If you answered c), you’re partially correct. The English call an elevator a “lift”, but necessarily a “lift station”. I don’t know why, but that’s their call.
If you answered d), you are correct. A Lift Station is a facility that is built in order to collect sewage in order to pump it “uphill” to a higher elevation so that it can resume its ordinary downhill flow to the wastewater treatment facility.
Lift Stations are used to raise wastewater (i.e. – sewage) via a pressured forcemain from a lower elevation to a higher elevation. You may not have given this much thought before, but for many people, when you flush your toilet, the water that goes down that toilet goes into a sewer line and flows right to the wastewater treatment plant in Savage (yes, under the river) with no mechanical pumping or other act of man required. It flows based on the laws of gravity.
Our Outside Utilities employees pay special maintenance attention to our Lift Stations because failures of Lift Stations can have a significant impact on the environment when raw wastewater is discharged over land or into lakes, streams, or rivers. Back-ups into private residences caused by a Lift Station failure can easily cost thousands of dollars to clean up, replace, and repair damaged homes and businesses. Significant failures make headlines in newspapers and can tarnish the image of the collection agency. Besides a twice weekly visit to each station for pump readings, thorough yearly inspections and maintenance are performed on all Eden Prairie Lift Stations to ensure stations are in continuous and efficient working order.
The working guts of a Lift Station are under ground. It doesn’t make for a very interesting photo. We depend on these Lift Stations for the modern convenience of sanitary sewer service at many homes and businesses in Eden Prairie. It is a critical service the City provides that sustains a normal urban American quality of life here. It’s working right now. If it wasn’t, you’d be calling me.
