APE Pumps, a member of the industrial engineering group PSV Holdings, has completed the second of two orders worth a total of ZAR 30 million to supply four water pumps to a water project in Iraq. The water supply project is 100km SW of the capital, Baghdad, and the order placed with APE is similar to three machines delivered by the company to the same project in 2005. APE’s vertical turbine pumps are needed to replace obsolete machines within a key existing pump-house, and were designed to fit existing sumps and foundations and to align with original pipes. The project comprises the multi-billion dollar rehabilitation of existing canals and pump houses, which deliver water to surrounding populated areas. The latest order consists of a 1600mm single stage vertical turbine pump. The order for the fourth vertical turbine pump was placed with APE Pumps by a US-based project management company Washington International, and includes a motor supply and a comprehensive set of spare parts. When fitted with its 1300kW, 420rpm, 14 pole electric motor, the pump measures almost 20m in length, weighs 36tns and is set to pump 3800ltrs per second of water at a head speed rate of 20m. Apart from the casing, the pump is constructed of stainless steel throughout to combat the corrosive attack by water pumped at the high Iraqi ambient temperatures of about 50C. A coating of Belzoni corrosion resistant compound protects the cast iron casing itself. Before shipping early in May, witness performance tests were carried out on the pump at the South African Bureau of Standards facility in Pretoria.