New Archimedes pump system

Severn Trent Water plans to pump 8,000 litres a second with new Archimedes pump system supplied by Deritend

Deritend has received an order from Severn Trent Water through Norwest Holst to supply and install four of the largest Archimedes screw type pumps in the UK. The four off 34 tonne Archimedes type screws are being used for a new AMP 4 flood defence scheme at

The increase in flooding problems in the UK has brought a focus on the importance of being prepared. To help combat heightened flood risk Severn Trent Water has pledged to spend £40 million across the Midlands on flood defences. Some of this will be spent on sewage treatment works enabling them to handle the large volumes of flood water that can arrive in a matter of hours.

The concept of the Archimedes pump has been used for several thousand years, reputedly used to irrigate Nebuchadnezzar’s hanging gardens of Babylon. In this instance they are being used to direct wastewater overflow into holding areas to help prevent the contamination of local water resources. This extremely simple pump system is still the most efficient way of transferring large volumes of water over short distances.

The four Landustrie screws will measure 15 meters long with a diameter of 2.5 meters and are completely self contained. Each screw is capable of transferring 2,000 litres per second. When in place the screws would operate simultaneously being capable of transferring over 8,000 litres per second. Landustrie are the world-wide market leader in screw pump technology, and have over a hundred years experience in designing and manufacturing these type of screw pumps in whatever size. The units will each be driven by a 185kW WEG motors and Flender gearboxes.

Jamie Wesley, Engineering Contract Manager for Deritend Site Services “After winning another new framework contract with Severn Trent Water we knew that we would receive some challenging jobs. A project of this size wouldn’t be possible for many companies, we are lucky that we can draw on our vast experience in supply, installation and maintenance to provide a complete package to the customer.”