“The scale of the project – to complete over 550 bridge upgrades within an ambitious timeline – demanded a reliable dewatering partner who could provide a broad range of dewatering solutions to meet diverse, often complex, pumping requirements,” said Stan Rockovich, Xylem’s project lead for the Pennsylvania Bridge project.
According to Rockovich, Xylem and Walsh had already established a good relationship, having worked together on numerous projects around the US. This led to Xylem’s deployment across programme.
“For the bridge replacement project in Pennsylvania, pumps are required to divert streams to facilitate bridge construction,” explained Rockovich. “Factors such as changing weather and storm events combined with space limitations make managing these diversions more challenging”.
With a fleet of 20,000 assets, Xylem has been able to meet the variety of challenges the 558-bridge programme has created. Pumping requirements to date have included Godwin diesel-powered centrifugal pumps, suitable for applications where electricity is not readily available;
Also at Walsh’s disposal is Xylem’s Godwin Field Smart Technology (FST) - a remote control and monitoring system which provides crucial pump operating data from pumps situated in remote locations, which can reduce or eliminate the need to have people on site. The contractor can monitor and control the operation of a pump remotely, checking that it is performing as required.
In Pennsylvania, contractors have often needed pumps at short notice, said Rockovich. “With a project of this scale, pumps are often required on very short notice and it is crucial that requests can be met without delay to avoid hampering construction timelines. Our broad footprint means that we’ve been able to have pumps delivered to the job site and ready for use within a matter of hours.”
As well as providing dewatering solutions, Xylem teams also deliver on-site training to the contractors’ road mechanics and operations managers, with ‘lunch and learn’ sessions, said Rockovich, designed to help contractor teams to trouble-shoot in the event that minor maintenance is required on pumps during operation.
