Water Abstraction

Water abstraction is a process whereby water is taken from a natural source which includes canals, lakes, rivers, lochs, water table, tidal rivers or sea. Such water is abstracted for various applications such as cooling, irrigation, distilling, reverse osmosis. If water is taken from a natural source overuse could potentially affect other users, systems and wildlife so businesses using more than 20,000L of water a day now require an abstraction licence.

Abstraction would typically be carried out using centrifugal pumps as the water is of low viscosity and the pump would be either a surface mounted self-priming pump, vertically immersed, borehole pump or a submersible pump.

There are a number of advantages and disadvantages to each pump type and consideration must be given to a number of factors including:

• Hours of use

• Planning permission for pipework to and from a water source

• Noise

• Lifespan

• Ownership of land and access across common carriageways to the water source
  

• Distance of pump to a water source

• Providing power to the unit

North Ridge Pumps supplies a comprehensive range of pumps for varying industrial applications - view pumps for water abstraction here.