When gravity just won't work — because your site is flat, low-lying, or slopes away from the main — a lift station becomes more than a backup plan. It’s often the only way to make your system viable.

But a well-designed lift station can also be a strategic unlock — allowing you to build where others can’t, avoid deep excavation, and maintain full control of your infrastructure.

How a Lift Station Works

A lift station is a pumping system that transfers wastewater from low areas to higher ground — where it can rejoin a gravity sewer system or treatment plant.

Here’s an easy 4-step process for how lift stations work:

Step 1: Wastewater flows into an underground tank called a wet well.

Step 2: Once the wet well fills to a set level, sensors trigger one or more pumps.

Step 3: The wastewater is pushed uphill through a force main (a pressurized pipe).

Step 4: Once it reaches the gravity line, it resumes its normal flow downhill.

In episode 2626552 of things you need to have ready before building, we discuss grading and drainage plans.

A Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP) is a written document signed by a construction company executive for a particular construction site, identifying every activity, condition and source that could lead to stormwater pollution and outlining the steps called Best Management Practices (BMPs) the company would take to prevent any pollution from water discharged from the site.

In this article, you will discover the immense flooding crises and struggles that have plagued the Netherlands for many centuries, claiming hordes of life and terribly altering

the topography of the area.