Strawberry Hill Pumping Station

The original 27 MGD Strawberry Hill Pumping Station was designed by Greeley and Hansen and pumped wastewater to the City of Richmond, Virginia through a 30-inch force main. A facility plan then recommended the development of regional wastewater collection and treatment systems for Henrico County, including expanding the capacity of the Strawberry Hill Pumping Station from 27 MGD to 78 MGD so it would provide service to the 130 square mile western service area.  

The station was designed to allow for future upgrades in several phases. In the first upgrade, the capacity of the Strawberry Hill SPS was expanded by the addition of three 20 MGD pumps to the station and construction of the 60-inch, 47,710-foot-long Strawberry Hill Force Main. These improvements were part of the County’s regional wastewater treatment system. It was planned at the time that the capacity of the station would be further increased in the future by the replacement of all seven high lift pumps in phases as needed to meet system growth needs. The firm capacity of the high lift pumping station was later increased from 74.5 MGD to 83.0 MGD by the replacement of High Lift Pumps with 500 hp pumps. 

Recently, another upgrade was completed to increase the firm capacity of the high lift from 83.0 MGD to 90.0 MGD by replacement of the three 20 MGD pumps with new 25 MGD capacity units. The project also included providing each pumping unit with a variable speed drive. The pumping system firm capacity was also designed to be increased in the future from 90 MGD to 100 MGD by construction of a 2nd 60-inch force main from the pumping station to the 60-inch force main high point at Creighton Road. The pumping station improvements were designed for increased wet weather flow capacity by taking full use of the following existing and planned sewage flow equalization basins.

Project Highlights 

• Hydraulic modeling and planning 
• Pumping station remained operational throughout construction of upgrades 
• Site layout for future retention basins for larger flow equalization capabilities 
• New pump variable speed drives