Yes. Low-pressure systems have a proven track record of good functionality. Please keep in mind that individual home sewage pumps are not new, even in the Hideout. Before Stage 1 construction begin in 2013, sewage pumps have been serving more than 1200 homes in the Hideout successfully for
many years.

During the design process in 2011, RS&W staff and its consultant, BCM Engineers, thoroughly investigated the two broad types of grinder pumps used in domestic sewage applications, namely: (1) positive displacement pumps (Manufacturer: Environment One); and (2) centrifugal pumps (Manufacturers: Barnes, Myers; Liberty). After visiting and intensively interviewing municipal operators of grinder pump installations both locally and out-of-state, the team was satisfied with their findings and chose to design around centrifugal pumps rather than positive displacement pumps for operational reliability, durability, and technical reasons. Ultimately, Barnes (Crane Pumps) and Myers were named in the specifications as equivalent manufacturers, and Barnes eventually won the bid for the pump supply contract.

If properly used and maintained, grinder pumps are very reliable. The largest grinder pump / low-pressure sewer system in the country (22,714 pumps in Port St. Lucie, FL) had an annual failure rate of less than 1-percent. The 20-year “pump survivability” for this system was estimated to be 90.24-percent.
Low-pressure collection systems and grinder pumps are common throughout the country, and are particularly useful in hilly terrain such as that in the Hideout.

Here are a few examples in Pennsylvania:

• East Marlborough Twp., Kennett Square, PA
• Mountain Top Sanitary Authority, Mountain Top, PA
• Upper Providence Twp., Media, PA
• Greenfield Twp. Sewer Authority, Greenfield, PA
• Manwalamink Water & Sewer Company, Shawnee, PA