For a possible expansion of Chiquita Lift Station, Santa Margarita Water District wanted to establish the maximum flow that could be pumped from the existing pumping station wet well without exhibiting air entrainment or high levels of pre-rotation in the wet well.To this end, Flow Science examined five different modes of operation using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Results indicated a significant overall swirl in the wet well for all modes, which could be mitigated in one operational mode by maintaining a minimum water depth and by selecting pump inlet locations.

The analysis also determined that flow could be increased to 6.75 mgd per pump provided three pumps were used and a fourth pump location was abandoned.