Land Drainage/Flood Defence Services
Bedford Pumps are the UK’s leading manufacturer of large submersible and conventional pumps to the Land Drainage and Flood Defence industry. With over 100 Land Drainage sites across the UK alone and an average of 3 pumps installed per site Bedford Pumps are delivering 2.8 Million m3 of flow per DAY (assuming 10% utilisation). Of course the main premise in draining the land, particularly in a flood situation, is to move very large volumes of water quickly. Bedford Pump’s range of Fish Friendly pumps can discharge water at up to 9,000 l/s. This means that just one pump alone could empty an Olympic sized swimming pool in 4 and a half minutes.
Bedford Pumps have made a number of Land Drainage Fish Friendly installations both in the UK market and overseas. The very first of which was for Kempsey Pumping Station in Worcestershire. The village of Kempsey had hit the headlines on a number of occasions over the years as a consequence of its extreme misfortune to be the casualty of repeated flooding.
A new pumping station was constructed to discharge water from Hatfield brook in the village to the other side of the embankment, thus reducing the risk of flooding to the village of Kempsey. Hatfield Brook however is home to an eel population and under the new EU Eel Regulations the pumps must be certified as being “fish and eel friendly” in order to preserve the life of the aquatic inhabitants. This station was the very first in the UK to install a Fish Friendly pump in order to meet the legislation requirements.