Ten States Standards & EPA Greenbook Guidelines for Pump Station Design | Excel Fluid Group

Any complex project benefits from clear expectations. Without defined criteria, even well-intentioned designs may fall short of what’s required. Pump stations are no exception. Our engineers rely on established standards to help direct design decisions and ensure systems meet all regulatory guidelines. Two of the most widely referenced documents that have built this framework include the Ten States Standards and the EPA Greenbook.

What are the Ten States Standards and EPA Greenbook?

The Ten States Standards are a compilation of guidelines developed by the Great Lakes-Upper Mississippi River Board (GLUMRB) that establish uniformity in designing and approving public water and wastewater systems across ten states and the Province of Ontario. These standards are primarily based on proven engineering practices and regulatory experience and are periodically revised to reflect modern developments and industry needs. While these guidelines cover a vast range of topics, there is an extensive chapter dedicated solely to the needs for pump stations.

Despite the title, several states outside of the GLUMRB use many of the core principles highlighted in the document as a technical baseline but have state-specific conditions that override or tighten requirements. As an example, the Maryland Department of the Environment has regulations on wastewater discharges due to shellfish harvesting. These regulations lead to additional constraints on the designs of wastewater systems, indirectly impacting pump stations in the process. For projects located outside of the titular ten states and Ontario, it's important to be mindful of more specific requirements.

Similarly, the EPA Greenbook is a guidance document originally created to be used for the design of wastewater treatment plans, ensuring that said designs comply with public health, water quality, and regulatory requirements set by the Environmental Protection Agency. As pump stations are central for the transportation of wastewater for these plants, the Greenbook has some guidelines to ensure that pump stations built throughout the country are consistent in design and more straightforward to review.

Where do These Documents Align? 

While the Ten States Standards and the Greenbook serve different purposes, both include dedicated sections that establish design requirements for pump stations. When reviewed side by side, these sections reveal a shared focus on many of the same core principles. Understanding where these documents align helps define the industry standard for designing pump stations. 

One of the primary areas of alignment between the two is reliability, which tends to lead to redundancy in the case of design. For example, both documents mention the need for at least two pumps to be provided. Each pump must be capable of pumping the peak design flow and have independent controls.

This serves as a safety net, though the safeguards don’t end there. The Greenbook and Ten States Standards also mention a requirement for an alarm system, equipped with backup power. These alarms are set to activate in situations where high water levels are detected in wet wells, when the primary pump fails, or in other instances of abnormal operation in the systems. 

Both documents also recognize that design must account for safe and consistent operation over time. This leads to several mentions of accessibility in each document, though the general sentiment is that there should be safe, easy access to the wells and controls in any instance of these stations. There should be consideration for ventilation, confined spaces, and overall hazardous environments. If a pump station has clearly been engineered to be safe for operators, it's a sign that the project has been well thought out as a whole.

Beyond the safety of those operating and maintaining pump stations, these standards are also intended to protect public health and the surrounding environment. Both documents recognize that pump stations exist within communities and not isolated industrial sites, meaning system failures pose broader risks beyond the facilities themselves. Safeguards such as backup pumps, alarm systems, and more exist not only for operational continuity, but also to prevent overflows, backups, and wastewater discharges that could contaminate nearby waterways and connected water sources.

Where do These Documents Differ? 

Though the Ten States Standards and EPA Greenbook share many of the same requirements and core objectives, they differ in how these objectives are applied throughout the design process. The Ten States Standards establish consensus-based technical standards that are widely adopted across multiple states, serving as a baseline for pump station design. The Greenbook, by contrast, is more closely tied to state-specific permitting frameworks and environmental policy and helps contextualize how technical requirements are evaluated during regulatory review.

The differences between the Ten States Standards and Greenbook may appear limited when viewed exclusively through the lens of pump station requirements, though the full documents have much greater contrast. It should be noted that both address a range of wastewater system topics beyond pump stations with varying levels of detail and emphasis. Concepts such as disinfection are granted an entire chapter in the Ten States Standards, while they have significantly less focus in the Greenbook, for example. These broader distinctions help explain why these documents may read similarly in some areas and seem to diverge much more in others.  

3.4     Alternate Power Sources

Alternate sources of power, standby pumping, or generating equipment shall be provided as follows for the appropriate average daily design flow:

Table 7 - Alternate Source of Power Options

Honing back in on pump stations specifically, there are some areas where the differences between the two are more clearly displayed. The necessity for backup power is one of the more pronounced examples available when evaluating these standards side by side. Section 47.2 of The Ten States Standards outlines the requirements for emergency pumping capability in broad terms, focusing on ensuring that stations can maintain full rated capacity during outages through redundant power sources, standby generators, or portable pumping equipment. Section 3.4 of the Greenbook builds on this expectation by tying alternate power requirements directly to average daily design flow, specifying when a simple power hook-up, portable generator access, or a permanent secondary power feed is required. In addition, when portable equipment is relied upon, the Greenbook calls for an onsite emergency plan to ensure that power can be secured quickly. This comparison shows how the Greenbook applies the general concepts of the Ten States Standards in a way that streamlines project review and compliance verification.

Putting Guidelines into Practice 

Standards and guidance documents serve little purpose unless they are consistently being applied in real-world projects. Translating these requirements into fully functional and compliant pump stations requires not only familiarity with the documents, but deliberate design choices, careful specification, and a clear understanding of how each component contributes to long-term system performance.

At Excel Fluid Group, our projects run smoothly because these standards are built into our process from the very start. Our team works collaboratively to design pump stations that accommodate the specific needs of each customer while remaining fully aligned with the EPA Greenbook and the Ten States Standards. Instead of treating these documents as after-the-fact references, we use them as a framework that guides decisions throughout the project lifecycle. Through Excel's Design Assist Program, we extend this approach into the design phase by providing support and documentation that helps teams create stations that align with regulatory requirements at the earliest stages of a project's development.

This approach is reinforced through several practical checkpoints along the way. One of the most notable examples would be the EPA’s Wastewater Permit-to-Install (PTI) Program, which is required for the installation or modification of any system designed to store, transport, or treat wastewater. The PTI application often directly references the pump station section of the Ten States Standards.
Because most of our projects require PTI approval, we routinely document design details such as pump selection, capacity, and the ability to pass debris or other solids. These are some of the primary considerations the PTI is intended to review as part of the approval process. When a design moves through this process without the need for revisions or clarifications, it is a strong indicator that the project is aligned with the established standards. For those planning pump station projects, it is important to carefully vet design references and partners to ensure they are working from the correct standards and regulatory guidance. Relying on incomplete or outdated interpretations can introduce avoidable delays, revisions, and complications during review.

Hopefully, this breakdown helps paint a clearer image of the purpose of these two important documents. For companies with a focus on pump station design, knowledge of the requirements of the Greenbook and Ten States Standards is a critical factor to a project's success. For additional examples of how these standards may be referenced during projects, take a look at our blog on How to Design a Pump Station for a Flood Zone or EPA Pump Station Maintenance Guidelines. If you have any questions about pump station projects that may involve these standards, please feel free to contact us any time.