Midlands Irrigation Scheme
The Midlands Irrigation Scheme is a highly successful and well-utilised irrigation scheme that comprises of 3 pumping stations and over 80 km of pipework.
Netco Pumps were the successful pumping equipment contractor to work with construction company Hazell Bros for the delivery of this scheme including pumps, valves and all manifold pipework in sizes of up to 800mm in hot-dipped galvanised construction.
Floods Creek Station delivers 724 L/sec of raw water from the floods creek dam into the distribution pipework including to the inlet side of the main Midlands Station. Floods Creek Pumps are large vertically configured split case pumps with DN800 manifolds and 90 kW motors, these pumps have a relatively low head of only 25 metres. The main Midlands station has a lower flow rate of only 480 L/sec but needs to pump at nearly 200 metres head, this is facilitated by six horizontal multistage pumps built by Caprari and each coupled to 250 kw, 4 pole motors. These pumps were picked for a range of technical reasons including their robust construction, longevity, efficiency and noise rating. The selection was upheld as a great success after more than 20,000 hours of running and very little wear being evidenced following a routine factory strip-down and inspection.