150 million m³ of water from a flooded coal mine
Some projects are big. Other projects are on a scale you rarely encounter. Pumping out the coal mine at Kolubara in Serbia belongs to the latter category.
After a breach in the Kolubara river, the coal mine was completely flooded. The mine was vital for Serbia's energy supply. Therefore, draining the mine as quickly as possible was not only a technical challenge but also of national importance.
A massive temporary pumping installation
Van Heck was called in to remove the enormous amount of water from the mine. For this, we realized a mobile pumping installation of unprecedented scale.
The installation consisted of:
- 20 × HK700 pumps
- 9 kilometers of piping
- Pipe diameters from Ø800 to Ø1000 mm
With this combination, an enormous amount of water could be continuously and controlled drained.
150 million m³ of water
In just six months more than 150 million m³ of water was pumped out of the flooded coal mine.
For comparison: that is about the volume of 60,000 Olympic pools.
Thanks to the enormous temporary pumping capacity, the mine could be drained and operations could be resumed. In doing so, Van Heck directly contributed to the recovery of a key component in Serbia's energy supply.
The largest mobile pump operation in the world
The scale, speed, and technical complexity made this project exceptional. Twenty large mobile pumps, nine kilometers of piping, and months of continuous pumping came together in one large-scale water displacement operation.
The project in Kolubara shows what is possible when large temporary pump installations, engineering, and logistics come together. Van Heck demonstrated here that even the largest water challenges can be tackled with mobile pump capacity.
150 million m³ of water. Six months. 20 HK700 pumps. One exceptional project.
