Outage at water plant would be bad news

By BILL MARDIS, Editor Emeritus

Somerset — What would happen if last week’s ice storm had knocked out power to local water-treatment plants as it did in nearby Danville and several other places in Kentucky?

Somerset would have been in a bunch of hurt. There is no backup generator at Somerset Water Services’ treatment plant at Waitsboro. If the lights go out the pumps go dead.

If such a calamity occurs, it wouldn’t be but a short while until residents of Somerset, Science Hill and Eubank as well as customers of several rural water districts and associations would be thirsty. They all get water from Somerset.

Ditto Monticello, although not on quite as large a scale. Several years ago there was some money for a backup generator available from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security but Monticello Utilities Commission didn’t submit an application, according to a commission official. Interruption of electrical service to Monticello’s water treatment plant would dry up the system that serves the Wayne County city as well as Bronston Water Association in Pulaski County.

How about Burnside Municipal Water Works? A good question still unanswered. Numerous telephone calls –– at least a dozen –– went unanswered. Dean Lovins, a former Burnside mayor and current member of Burnside City Council, said he believes there is a backup generator at the city’s treatment plant, but he isn’t sure.

Some 93 counties in Kentucky are eligible for federal disaster assistance through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) or Homeland Security but Pulaski and Wayne counties are not included in the disaster designation. Nobody seems to be sure if there is a grant under normal circumstances to buy a generator ahead of the next storm.

The plight of its neighbors during the ice storm was a wake-up call for Somerset. Backup generators will definitely be part of the design of the planned expansion of Somerset Water Services’ treatment plant at Waitsboro, according to manager Charles Dick.

But for now, in case of a disruption of power, a generator large enough to operate the water plant could be leased from down South, Dick said. How long it would take for the equipment to get here and be installed is unknown.

The Somerset Water Service manager said he is not aware of any offer from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to pay for backup generators for Somerset Water Service. “I don’t know how much it would cost, but it would be a big number,” the city water company manager said.

Mayor Eddie Girdler, reflecting on the numerous municipal water systems shut down by the recent ice storm, said a backup generator for Somerset Water Service should be top priority. The mayor indicated he will be looking into the possibility of installing a generator even before the planned expansion is complete two or three years down the road.

“I was out of town (when the storm hit) and I thought of it,” Girdler reflected. “What if we were out of water? I’d have to fly back and see what I could do.”

If an ice storm or some other calamity shut down Somerset Water Services’ treatment plant approximately 100,000 people would be affected. Somerset Water Service provides treated water to municipally owned systems at Eubank and Science Hill as well as Western Pulaski Water District and Southeastern Water Association.

Eubank has about 5,000 customers in Pulaski, Lincoln and Casey counties; Science Hill has about 1,800 customers in the greater Science Hill area; Western Pulaski Water District extends into parts of Casey and Russell counties and has about 10,000 customers; and Southeastern Water Association has about 7,000 customers, all in Pulaski County.

Dick said a pilot study on the planned expansion of Somerset’s water-treatment facilities will be done next month and the water treatment plant expansion project should be ready for bid advertisement during the spring or summer 2010.

The expansion will increase the treatment capacity from 10 million gallons a day to 16 million gallons a day. Current plans call for installation of membrane filters, a newly developed state-of-the-art filtration system that will produce high quality water in the same footprint (location).

Glen Ramsey, manager of the water-treatment plant at Monticello, said at one time U.S. Department of Homeland Security offered the city money to install a backup generator but an application was not filed and the money is gone now.

“We were not down (without power) during the recent ice storm ... there was no ice here,” said Ramsey. “But if things were to go bad ... it would be bad right now,” he added. Ramsey estimated that a backup generator for the Monticello water treatment plant would cost $500,000.

Pulaski County Public Safety Director Tiger Robinson said he isn’t sure if grants are still available for backup generators. “I know there were some grants in the past, but I’m not sure if they are still available,” he said.

Rob Kennedy, director of Homeland Security Training at the Center for Rural Development, isn’t sure either. He referred to a FEMA website that apparently applies only to counties in federally declared disaster areas.

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