The operating floor, occupying most of the interior, houses five vertically mounted axial flow 119-inch pumps which keep the river water from backing up when the river gates are down. The five pumps are each 20 feet in diameter and 54.7 feet high and have a combined capacity of 7000 cubic feet squared. The pumps are General Electric pumps, powered by a 4,500 horsepower motor that turns a 137 ton impeller pump 150 times a minute. Each pump is capable of lifting 630,000 gallons of water per minute. Together they have a capacity of 3,150,000 gallons per minute. Each pump is also equipped with hydraulicly operated backwater closures, designed to prevent reverse flow of river water.
Each of the pumps is routinely inspected. During each overhaul, the motor and shaft are removed. The upper and lower bearing have all been replaced. Although replacements have been necessary for some of the operating components of the pumps, the mechanics and the overall structures have not been altered. The equipment used in 1966 is still technologically appropriate. The only alteration includes the replacement of temperature gages with digital thermometers.
Canal Gates
A 1500-foot timber panel wall forms a channel approximately 65 feet wide along the west side of the Providence River. The water source provides cooling water for the condensers of what was the Narragansett Electric Company's steampower plants. Guarding this canal are two 10-foot by 15-foot gates with an invert elevation of -18 feet, mean sea level. The gates are located west of the pumps and the mechanics are contained within the pumping station structure. Soon after the dedication of the Hurricane Barrier, it was realized that the steel members of the cooling water canal were corroding. Subsequently, Glalvanum was applied to the steel to protect it from the corrosive factors of the river water.
Dikes
Two long rock and earth dikes each span the east and west banks of the Providence River, parallel to the Narragansett Bay shoreline. Composed of armor steel, rolled earth fill faced with
