By BILL MARDIS, Editor Emeritus
Somerset — “We’re ready to proceed ... we’re actively pursuing funding. We’re ready to go as soon as we receive the money.”
Charles Dick, utilities manager for Somerset, was referring to a nearly $5 million Power Outage Water and Wastewater Response Plan to provide backup power to the city’s water and sewerage treatment plants in case of an electrical outage during a natural or man-made disaster.
City officials said during a news conference Thursday that formulation of the plan began early in 2007 during the crisis at Wolf Creek Dam when there was talk of lowering Lake Cumberland to 650 feet above sea level, or even lower. This lake level would have deactivated generators at the dam and put John Sherman Cooper Power Station at Burnside out of commission.
“Such a situation, if it had occurred, would have created rolling blackouts and necessitated backup generators at the water and sewerage plants,” said Alex Godsey, Somerset city engineer. The finalized Power Outage Water and Wastewater Response Pan was put in booklet form ready for submission to the Kentucky Division of Emergency Management after the late January ice storm that shut down as many as a dozen municipal water systems in Kentucky. Pulaski County escaped most of the ice storm and the local water plant was unaffected.
Jody Cottrill, public information officer for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in Atlanta, told the Commonwealth Journal last week that President Barack Obama’s major disaster declaration for the entire state of Kentucky should make Somerset eligible for hazard mitigation funds. She said the city would have to work with the Kentucky Division of Emergency Management to obtain the financial assistance for backup generators.
Dick said a team from the Kentucky Division of Emergency Management was scheduled to be in Pulaski County Thursday to inspect various emergency needs. “We’re supposed to meet with them today (Thursday),” Dick said.
“We’re not talking about going to Lowe’s and buying a generator,” said Dick. “We’re talking about powering an entire utility system.”
Godsey pointed out that two megawatt natural gas powered generators “... (each) as big as a tractor-trailer” are necessary to provide backup power for the water treatment plant. He said it takes more than 4000 kilowatts generating over 3000 horsepower to pump 10 million gallons of water a day now treated by Somerset Water Service. The plant will treat 16 million gallons a day once a planned expansion is complete.
In addition, two 500 kilowatt permanent natural gas generators, each generating 350 horsepower, would be needed, one for the Oak Hill water booster station at the rear of the Kentucky Department of Highways offices and one at the Shop Knob water booster station off Murphy Avenue. Also, 2000 feet of four-inch natural gas line would be needed for the water booster station at Shop Knob because natural gas is not now in that area.
“If you’ve got water, you’ve got to have sewage treatment,” Dick continued. “People take a bath and flush their toilets.”
Somerset has two sewage-treatment facilities. Both of these plants have permanent installations of auxiliary power. However, there are 43 lift stations that collect water and feed the two treatment plants. Five of these lift stations currently have auxiliary power. There are four additional stations that need permanent backup power to ensure normal operation during an emergency situation, according to Dick and Godsey. Also, 34 lift stations would have to be manually pumped using portable generators.
Godsey said he and Dick are “extremely confident” of the prepared cost estimate of $4,937,500 for natural gas-powered backup powered generators and accessories for the water and sewerage systems. A breakdown of the cost indicates the backup system at the water treatment plant would cost $4,062,500; another $875,000 for the water booster stations; and $293,750 for the sewage pump stations.
“We just can’t afford to do that (with city funds) and raise water rates again,” said Godsey. He alluded to a planned rate hike for customers outside the city an average of 5 to 7 dollars a month. This will, as Mayor Eddie Girdler put it, let customers outside the city share in the cost of a planned $25 million expansion of the water-treatment plant. Somerset Water Service currently supply potable water to about 100,000 customers, most of whom live outside the city.
The final paragraphs in a summary of the Power Outage and Wastewater Response Plan says the “ ... city of Somerset is committed to providing service to its customers and is very concerned with potential for interruption of services due to a natural disaster. However, Somerset, with its large regional coverage area coupled with its relatively low median income, cannot afford to bear the expenses of these improvements.
“We are already implementing rate increases to our customers to offset pending projects to increase the capacities of our water plant and sewerage plant. Somerset is prepared to move forward with a project to install the necessary auxiliary power generation equipment when funding become available for this initiative.”
