Switches to keep water and sewer running
The Century Town Council Tuesday night approved Water Superintendent Heath Burkett to spend up to and no more than $15,000 out of the town’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds on three transfer switches that will allow each generator to switch power to the wastewater treatment plant (wwtp) building or the town’s two water wells in order to keep all three facilities operating if there is a power outage or a major event that interrupts power.
Burkett said in a recent short power outage, the generator at one water well cranked up but because the transfer switch has been having problems, it would not transfer the power to the pump, where it was needed. The town’s generators have various extents of repair needed and the town is working to get them reliable.
Councilwoman Alicia Johnson, who has water treatment experience, asked if there is a plan in place to test the equipment periodically, which there isn’t. She suggested they crank the generators once a week to make sure they crank, then run it under its potential load once a month, as an on-going maintenance practice.
The council discussed its contract with Tampa Armature Works, a company that assesses the town’s generators, all manufactured by Kohler, on a regular basis, though if there is a problem, fixing the problem is not included in the contract price.
The town’s 22 lift stations need transfer switches also, but the water wells and wwtp are critical components to keeping the town’s water operational.
Johnson said a generator that will power the wwtp costs about $150,000 because of the amount of power needed to operate it. The one Century has currently works fine, but the transfer switch is vital to water operations. The urgency prompted the council to approve Burkett to see how much it will cost to repair the generators and purchase transfer switches if necessary.
Councilwoman Johnson made the motion, which was seconded by Councilwoman Sandra McMurray Jackson. The motion carried.
In a phone call Wednesday to Burkett, he said he, Kevin Merchant and Joe Brown were able to get well #1 and the wwtp generators up and running. He said the well #2 generator still needs repair so he will continue to pursue what is needed in order to get it where it should be.
