How big are the pumps in New Orleans, can a body pass through

[patdem]

while it is being pumped? I am not mechanically inclined at all so am just wondering if it could happen?

[Turbineguy]

1. Screens

on the suction pipe.

BTW the Dutch govermnent is sending 3 3000 M3/hr capacity pumps. They should be arriving today.

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. Yeah, that would make sense.

------------------------------------------------------
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[TallahasseeGrannie]

2. I read

that they have large screens in front of the pipes that they periodically check.

[sweettater]

4. I heard on the news

a few nights back that the bodies were clogging up the pumps. I shutter at the thought.

[justiceischeap]

5. I had also heard that was a concern, so maybe they added the screens.

Or maybe they just meant that the bodies "stack up" against the outside of the screen, but I'd imagine with the psi those pumps are generating and the amount of time the bodies have been in the water, that they'd kinda just rip apart. (Sorry to be so gruesome)

[Bernardo de La Paz]

10. No, not clogging, but parts being pumped through. Perhaps you "shudder".

[illflem]

6. I'm sure the pumps would just grind bodies into nothing

but the screens are in place to keep harder "debris" from damaging the pumps.

[phaseolus]

12. "Chopper Pumps" are common in wastewater treatment

Assuming they're in use in NO, anything getting by the screens and 'trash racks' will get blended, frapped, liquified...

[patdem]

7. Thank you all for your response...I have been wondering about this

for a couple of days and found nothing except that the water was moving out faster than expected. :hi:

[texanwitch]

8. This is just so horrible and sad, The poor bodies are so cooked,

from the heat, this is not right. Their loved ones can't even have a funeral, nothing. The words escape me right now.

[SaveAmerica]

9. Someone who was interviewed yesterday said that Navy divers

remove any bodies that get to the openings (I guess any obstructions that possibly cause problems, but they asked about bodies specifically).

[DoYouEverWonder]

11. They even have to shut down the pumps

when the screens get clogged.

As for bodies, they usually float. So hopefully the rescue folks are getting them before they get that far.