Lift Station Specifications: What Public Specs Ask a Manufacturer to Price

If you have quoted a packaged lift station against a city or county standard, you know that picking the pumps is the quick part. The slow part is everything else in the lift station specifications that the owner has written around those pumps.

Those other sentences decide who may build the control panel, how deep the wet well may go and which fuel the generator burns. They also decide how many days your service technician spends on site.

For this guide we read five public documents from end to end. We wrote down every requirement that changes what a manufacturer supplies or prices, with its page, so you can check each quote yourself.

The five owners disagree on nearly every item that carries real money. They name different pump makers, panel builders, enclosure metals and generator fuels, and their test runs range from 3 hours to 7 days.

Four of the five also contradict themselves somewhere. One bid package asks for a two-pump station and then tells you to test three pumps.

If you are new to water and wastewater spec books in general, start with our guide to quoting water and wastewater equipment from a spec book. This guide stays on the lift station itself.

In brief

• Check first whether your kind of station is allowed at all. Polk and Pasco accept only submersible stations, and Austin's draft rule would do the same.
• Read the pump maker list as a cost list. Polk's list is closed, and Santa Fe makes any maker other than Flygt pay for the redesign.
• Find out who may build the control panel before you price it. Pasco wants it from the pump supplier, while Polk allows only two named local shops.
• Price the field test in days. Houston asks for 7 days in full automatic without a failure.

The five documents we read

Every page number in this guide is the page of the PDF file, so you can open the file and jump straight to it.

Austin's real equipment specification is not public. The draft says copies "are available and can be obtained from AW" (page 24).

The Houston copy points to "Specification 11311, Submersible Wastewater Pumps" (page 145), which is not in the file.

What five lift station specifications ask a manufacturer to price

A manufacturer who quotes all five owners from one standard package will be wrong somewhere in every column.

Step 1: check whether your kind of station is allowed at all

In a submersible station, the pumps sit under the sewage at the bottom of the wet well, the underground tank where sewage collects.

In an above-ground or self-priming station, the pumps sit above the wet well and pull the sewage up. In a dry pit station, they sit in a dry room beside it.

Pasco says "Pumps must be submersible-type" (page 101). If you sell above-ground or dry pit stations, neither county will take your standard product.

Polk adds a size floor: "No pumps with less than five horsepower motors will be acceptable" (page 45). A small duplex with 3 horsepower pumps fails before anyone looks at the price.

Austin's draft reverses the current rule

In Austin's marked-up copy, this current sentence is crossed out:

The draft's summary says "Submersible non-clog wastewater pumping facilities will be the only type of lift station allowed" (page 2).

The preferred design for a large Austin station under the current rule is the one design the draft would ban.

Step 2: read the pump maker list as a cost list

Each owner names pump makers differently, and the wording decides what it costs to offer a brand that is not named.

Polk: a closed list and one brand's rails

Polk's Approved Materials Checklist names four pump makers: Hydromatic, Flygt, Wilo-EMU and ShinMaywa (page 219).

The checklist opens with "The use of the following items is mandatory". Anything else must be "approved in advance by the Utilities Code Committee" (page 191).

The pump slides down two guide rails onto a base elbow, a fitting bolted to the wet well floor, so nobody has to climb in to remove it. Polk ties that fitting to one brand:

Pasco: six names and "or approved equal"

Pasco names A.B.S., Barnes, Hydromatic, EBARA, Myers and Wilo, "or approved equal" (page 101). Flygt, one of Polk's four, is not on Pasco's list.

We cover how to judge those three words in or approved equal: when to bid and when to walk away.

Santa Fe: one design basis, and the redesign is yours

Santa Fe names Flygt, "Or Engineer reviewed equivalent" (page 413).

The design basis is the product the engineer laid the station out around, and the pump section says who pays to change it:

The engineer considers substitutions "For a period of 30 days after the Preconstruction Conference" (page 23). So you learn whether your equivalent is accepted only after the contract is awarded.

The schedule calls for a "Flygt Model NP 3202 HT3" at 1,300 gpm and 79.4 feet of head, with a minimum hydraulic efficiency of 75.6% (page 420). An equivalent must match that efficiency too.

Step 3: find out who is allowed to build the control panel

Many packaged station makers build their own panels. Read the lift station specifications for this question before you assume you can, because these owners give four different answers.

Pasco wants one supplier for everything

Pasco adds that the pumps, control center and access frame "must be warranted by the same supplier" (page 111). For a package maker this is the easy case.

Polk names two panel shops

Polk says the panel supplier "shall be one the following approved suppliers": Curry Controls Company or Unitron Controls (page 116).

The checklist heading adds that the panel builder "Must Be Within Polk County" (page 212).

In Polk, a pump package maker cannot supply its own panel. Your quote covers the mechanical package, and the panel comes from one of the two named shops.

Houston and Santa Fe set qualifications

Houston wants a system integrator, the company that builds and programs the panel, with "proven experience with the City's existing facilities". It must keep service facilities "within 100 miles of the City of Houston" (page 9).

SCADA is the utility's central system that watches every station by radio or cellular link.

Houston's SCADA software engineer must be approved "prior to the bidding of this work" and have an office in the city (page 32).

Santa Fe names no shop. It wants one authorized by a testing laboratory such as UL to label panels to UL 508A, the industrial control panel standard.

That shop must also employ "a field service representative who is currently certified as a Certified Control Systems Technician, Level 3" (page 374).

Step 4: price the panel the owner will accept

NEMA ratings describe what an enclosure keeps out. A NEMA 3 box is made for outdoor rain and dust, and a NEMA 4X box also resists hose-directed water and corrosion.

An aluminum panel that suits Pasco is not acceptable in Polk, and a painted steel panel that suits Santa Fe is acceptable in neither Florida county.

Four controller platforms

The PLC, or programmable logic controller, is the industrial computer inside the panel that runs the pumps. Each owner standardizes on its own:

• Polk lists a Schneider Electric Magelis operator screen and Square D breakers and starters (pages 212 to 217).
• Pasco requires telemetry from Data Flow Systems in "DFS TCU Cabinet Model DFS-00275-008-05", plus a radio survey by the same company (page 104).
• Houston specifies "Siemens Industry, S7-1214C" (page 10).
• Santa Fe gives "Basis of Design: Allen-Bradley CompactLogix 5069 L330ER Series" (page 370).

Extras that are easy to miss

Houston wants "at least 25% of each PLC module furnished as spare parts" and "4,000 GE iFIX Historian license" (page 14).

It also wants a concrete pole "for WiMAX antenna support and CCTV camera" (page 55, Section 13550, footer printed 13350-1).

Polk tests the panel twice before shipment. First it is "completely factory tested using the three phase line voltage source for which the panel is intended" (page 118).

Then it is tested "back to the County's central SCADA system over cellular interface" (page 137).

Step 5: price the wet well, the hatch and the lifting gear

The wet well is usually a stack of precast concrete rings made in a factory. Its size sets the length of your rails and cables, the hatch size and the reach of any crane.

Size follows flow and horsepower

Polk's Table 512-1 sets 2 pumps below 1,000 gpm of peak flow, 3 from 1,000 to under 2,500 gpm, 4 from 2,500 to under 4,000 gpm and 5 at 4,000 gpm or more (pages 42 and 43).

A triplex needs "a minimum 12-foot inside diameter", and a duplex with "35 horsepower pumps or larger" needs 10 feet (page 47).

Pasco sorts stations by horsepower (page 105).

Type I runs "up to 14 hp" in a six-foot wet well, Type II "10- 47 hp" in an eight to ten foot wet well, and Type III "32 hp and greater".

Depth limits differ by more than double

Pasco says "Total wet well depths must not exceed 21 feet unless otherwise approved by the PCU Director or designee" (page 48). Austin's draft allows more than twice that:

Three linings for the same concrete

Sewage gas attacks bare concrete, so every owner wants the wet well protected. They disagree on the material and on who applies it:

• Polk wants a studded HDPE plastic liner. "Minimum thickness of liner is 80 mils", and "The liner shall be cast in place by the precast manufacturer" (page 51).
• Pasco wants a cement-like geopolymer lining "such as GeoKrete by Quadex, LLC of Houston, TX, or approved equal", at least one inch thick (page 110).
• Santa Fe schedules coating system C2, an epoxy or polyurethane lining of 100 to 250 mils, checked with a holiday test, which is a spark test for pinholes (pages 143 and 144).

Polk's liner is a factory item cast in at the precast plant, while Pasco's and Santa Fe's are applied after the concrete is made. That changes who quotes it.

Hatches, grates and rails

Polk wants its hatch "along with an integrated fall protection system", and "Doors shall be of aluminum diamond plate" (page 53).

Santa Fe asks for a "Hinged grated safety hatch located below doors" (page 418).

Pasco sets a minimum door of "36" X 54"" in a "TPS300, or equal" (page 109).

Polk wants "two Type 316 seamless tubular stainless steel guides" (page 79). Santa Fe accepts "Type 304 stainless steel Schedule 40 guide bars" (page 417).

Cranes and valve vaults

Austin's draft changes "an equipment-lifting device" to "All stations will be required to have a jib crane" (page 22). A jib crane is a small crane on a post that swings over the hatch.

Santa Fe asks for a motorized one-ton jib crane, load tested "at 125 percent of rated load" (page 410).

Pasco asks for hoists only "Where required in large installations" (page 102).

Pasco also says "No valve vaults are permitted" (page 110), while Santa Fe has a valve vault cover in the pump accessories (page 418).

Step 6: settle the power question

Every owner wants the station to keep pumping when utility power fails. Each one buys that protection differently.

Polk and Pasco: diesel

Polk requires a permanent generator at larger stations, for example any station with "a 12 inch and larger force main" (page 49).

It must be a diesel "in a weatherproof sound attenuated enclosure", with fuel for "a minimum duration of 48-hour failure of the normal power supply" (page 90).

The approved makers are Caterpillar, Cummins/Onan and Kohler (page 225).

Stations without a generator get a manual transfer switch for a portable one (page 50). Its enclosure is "NEMA 3R powder coated galvanneal steel" (page 85).

Pasco says the generator "must be a diesel engine generator" from "Caterpillar, Onan, or approved equal" (page 104).

Austin's draft: natural gas first

Under the draft, the diesel generator that Polk and Pasco require becomes the exception in Austin.

Houston: a switch for the City's own generator

Houston has no permanent generator. It asks for a manual transfer switch for an "owner supplied portable generator" (page 201), with a "Body and cover: Type 316 stainless steel" (page 203).

Starters and drives

A soft starter brings a motor up to speed gently. A variable frequency drive, or VFD, lets it run at any speed.

Polk wants a soft starter "for all motors 25HP and larger" and a VFD "for motors greater than 50 horsepower" (pages 121 and 122).

Austin's draft lowers its soft start threshold from 75 to "motors 50 hp and larger" (page 23).

Step 7: price the tests in days on site

Tests cost time, travel and sometimes equipment. The run you price on site can be 3 hours, 24 hours per pump or 7 days.

Houston counts as a failure any high or low water level, motor alarm, communication failure, PLC failure or transducer failure (same page). The test uses fresh water, and "The existing station shall remain in service during this test."

Polk wants a 24-hour run on every pump "before final acceptance", running out of the water at full load (page 79).

At start-up, Polk also flow tests the pumps against "the manufacturer's pump curve", with no generator power allowed (page 189).

Santa Fe ramps the pumps to peak flow and says "Demonstrate this process for 3 consecutive hours" (page 110).

The contractor brings "a temporary 10,000 gallon storage tank (minimum)" (page 109).

The Santa Fe clock restarts on failure: "If equipment fails during shakedown, required shakedown scheduled period restarted" (page 106).

Factory tests and who must attend

Santa Fe lists five factory tests on every pump, including "A test of the pump motor (run dry for 5 minutes at full load)" (page 413).

Pasco says "Each pump must be tested in the manufacturer's shop" (page 112).

Polk wants "A factory representative" to supervise the formal start-up (page 188). Pasco says "the manufacturer's representative must be present at the job site" (page 113).

Step 8: price the warranty, local service, spares and training

These items look small on the bid form, but they stay on your books for years.

Warranty

• Polk wants pumps warranted "for a period of five years from installation or 10,000 hours from installation, whichever comes first" (page 81).
• Pasco wants "a minimum of two years", plus wear parts "on a progressive schedule of cost for a period of five years" (page 111).
• Santa Fe wants "five (5) years from date of Substantial Completion", covering parts, labor and freight at 100 percent for months 1 to 18, 50 percent to month 39 and 25 percent to month 60 (page 413).

Polk's clock starts at installation and Santa Fe's at substantial completion, which can come months later.

Local service

Santa Fe wants "a local representative located within 200 miles of the job site", appointed "three (3) years prior to bid date" and stocked with "a minimum of $100,000 inventory of manufacturer's repair parts" (page 413).

Spares, training and manuals

Santa Fe wants "Lubricant for all equipment and facilities sufficient for three months normal usage" (page 102).

Polk says "No tools or spare parts shall be required" (page 81).

Santa Fe asks the pump maker for "4 hours of training", recorded on video (page 420).

Houston's controls training is "PLC basic/advanced programming/maintenance (5 days): Four people", with airfare and hotels paid if held outside Houston (page 23).

Pasco wants three parts manuals, three pump O&M manuals and three sets of schematics at start-up (page 113).

Where the documents contradict themselves

Most of these documents were edited from older versions. The sentences that survived an edit are where two careful bidders end up pricing different stations.

Santa Fe: two pumps or three?

The schedule says "Quantity: Two (2) pump assemblies (1 duty, 1 standby)" (page 421). The shakedown test says otherwise:

The drawings are not in the public spec book. Until the engineer settles it, a bidder who prices two pumps and one who prices three are both reading honestly.

Santa Fe: an unclassified area with an explosion-proof motor

NFPA 820 is the fire code that marks where explosive gas may collect in a wastewater facility. The schedule says "NFPA 820 Area Classification: Unclassified" (page 420).

Yet the motor is "FM-explosion proof rated" (page 421). An explosion-proof motor costs more, so ask which applies.

Pasco: three conflicts in one manual

• The approved pipe list says "Sewage Pressure Pipe and Fittings" in "Grade 316 stainless steel" (page 102), but "All above-ground pipe and fittings must be ductile iron" (page 110).
• Gauge connections go "inside the valve vault ahead of the check valve" (page 103), but "No valve vaults are permitted" (page 110).
• Appendix B requires "a chain-link fence enclosure 50' X 50' (minimum)" (page 50), but Appendix E says "Site fencing must be provided when specifically requested by PCU" (page 102).

Pasco's station types also overlap. A 12 horsepower station fits Type I and Type II, which have different wet well sizes.

Polk and Houston

Polk asks for "a cable cap as part of the spare parts for each pump" (page 80), and one page later says "No tools or spare parts shall be required" (page 81).

Houston's outdoor cabinets are "NEMA 3" (page 51), yet the next page says "NEMA 4X enclosures shall have all bolt holes gasketed" (page 52).

What to put in your quote

Reading lift station specifications this closely only pays off if what you found reaches the quote. A quote against documents like these should have these parts:

1. Name what you priced. Give the document title and its date or revision. The Polk manual alone lists thirteen numbered amendments since 2012.
2. List the station by item. Show the pumps, rails, hatch, grate, lining, valves, panel and crane, each with the model or rating you priced.
3. State the scope split. Say what you supply, what the precaster or a named panel shop supplies, and what the contractor installs.
4. Give the services in days. State factory tests, start-up visits, test run days and training hours, with a rate for extra days.
5. Give the warranty in the owner's terms. Say when the clock starts and what it covers.
6. List the exceptions. An exception is a requirement you will not meet, such as a local service center you do not have.
7. List the clarifications. A clarification is a conflict with the reading you priced, such as two pumps rather than three.

Questions to ask before the bid closes

• Is my pump brand acceptable, and who decides if it is not named?
• May I supply the control panel, or must it come from a named shop?
• Which enclosure material and NEMA rating apply?
• Is a permanent generator required, and which fuel?
• How many pumps are there, and is the wet well a hazardous area?
• How long is the acceptance run, and what restarts it?

Our free specification compliance matrix template keeps each requirement, its page and your answer in one sheet.

Writing each risk down before the price is set is covered in pre-bid risk assessment, and the rest of a bid package in reading bid packages.

If you keep one habit from this guide, keep this one: every conflict you find goes into the quote, together with the reading you priced.

Where Mavlon fits

We read these five documents by hand for this guide. Mavlon's AI Quoting Engine does that reading on the specification and drawings your customer sends you.

It lists every requirement that changes the price, with the page it came from.

It shows where the documents disagree with each other or with themselves, such as a pump schedule and a test procedure that count different pumps.

It then drafts a first quote from your own pricing for your estimator to check. It does not decide whether you comply with a requirement, and it does not set the price. Those decisions stay with your team.

More on our page about AI quoting for water and wastewater equipment manufacturers.

Sources

• Polk County Utilities, Florida, Utilities Standards and Specifications Manual, Chapter 5 Wastewater, file dated 03-04-2025, latest listed amendment effective December 21, 2024.
• Pasco County Utilities, Florida, Technical Manual for Design and Construction of Water, Wastewater, and Reclaimed Water Facilities, revised February 10, 2021.
• Austin Water, City of Austin, Texas, Notice of Proposed Rule R161-26.02, posted August 24, 2026. This is a proposed rule, and we could not confirm that it has been adopted.
• City of Houston, Texas, Lift station guide specifications, Divisions 13 and 16, electrical and instrumentation, revised May 2, 2023. This is a copy issued in TxDOT project CSJ 0028-01-067, hosted on TxDOT's server.
• Santa Fe County, New Mexico, Project Manual, Abajo Lift Station Re-Direct, September 2025, prepared by Molzen Corbin.

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