The energy model of an intake pump station was firstly introduced. Then, an open loop optimal control approach and a model predictive control (MPC) approach were introduced to improve the operational efficiency of intake pump stations. They lump time of use (TOU) tariff and intake level into their objective functions, and take total water consumption and the low and high limit of the clean water reservoir as constraints as well. An intake pump station, equipped with three constant speed pumps, was taken as a case study. The conventional optimal control and the MPC approach were investigated, respectively. The advantage of the MPC approach was convinced by the simulation results. Further, the load shifting of intake pump stations was also achieved through the proposed control approaches.