Pump hire specialist Sykes Pumps has provided an emergency pumping solution for Sea Life Scarborough to keep the aquarium’s underground reservoir topped up with the sea water it needs for its aquatic life habitats.
The firm provided a P1001N electric submersible pump, along with 40 metres of hose, from its Doncaster depot. The company’s installation manager designed the solution, which involved lowering the pump into the sea and attaching it to fencing, before running hose over the sea defences and across the promenade to the reservoir beneath the aquarium. The team also trained the aquarium’s staff to activate and de-activate the pump as it could only be used to abstract sea water to top up the reservoir at high tide.
Sea Life Scarborough is home to more than 1000 different creatures, including penguins, seals, turtles and sharks. The aquarium relies on pumping water from the sea into its 40,000 litre reservoir at high tide to ensure that all species in its care have a healthy, natural environment. When the permanent electrical pump used for this purpose broke down, the visitor attraction called Sykes Pumps to deploy an alternative as quickly as possible.
Mrs Lyndsey Crawford Darwell from Sea Life Scarborough explains: “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. Sykes Pumps responded extremely quickly to our enquiry and had the pump installed and operational within a day. It provided just the solution we needed until our permanent pump was working again and meant that we could continue to care for our sea creatures and welcome visitors throughout the summer.”
The 13 litres per second flow rate provided by the Sykes Pumps P1001N was sufficient to keep water in the reservoir at the required level while pumping only during the limited high tide periods. Sykes Pumps also provided a temporary generator to power the electric submersible pump, which was located on the promenade, along with temporary ramps to enable pedestrians to walk safely over the hose running between the pump and the reservoir.
Jonathan King of Sykes Pumps adds: “This was a very unusual request but we were able to deploy a pump usually used for 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 Sea Life Scarborough to remain open as usual and continue to carry out their valuable conservation work.
