When sea life conservationists contacted Sykes Pumps regarding the installation of an emergency solution that would protect sharks, penguins, seals and other marine mammals, we reacted quickly to ensure the requirement reached a desirable outcome.
Reflecting on the issue, a spokesperson for the client explained: “Our reservoir is business critical because it supplies water to all our sea water habitats, and we need to maintain supply levels to ensure the health and wellbeing of our sea creatures.” The breakdown of our customer’s existing pump prevented their aquarium’s underground reservoir from being topped up with sea water – a vital provision as far as aquatic welfare is concerned.
Once we were made aware of the issue, a local specialist visited the site and devised a special pump hire adaption which involved lowering a P1001N submersible pump into the sea and securing it to nearby anchor point. A 40-metre length of hose was then run over an adjacent sea defence wall, across a promenade and into the reservoir itself. This solution ensured a constant flow of sea water could be maintained, with our engineer training the aquarium’s staff to activate and deactivate our pump as and when necessary.
A P1001N submersible pump was purposefully selected for this application because its 13 litres per second flow guaranteed that the reservoir’s required water level could be maintained at all times without any issue. We also factored in that pumping would only be possible during high tide periods. In addition, we also provided an electric generator to power the pump unit itself and the temporary ramps which allowed pedestrians to walk safely on the promenade.
Jonathan King, electric submersible pumps manager, summarised: “This was an unusual request but we were able to deploy a pump usually used for site dewatering applications and had everything installed and running on site before the reservoir reached critically low levels. We’re delighted that we were able to provide a rapid and practical solution that enabled a prominent conservationist project to remain open as usual and continue to carry out the valuable work that they do.”