When the power is off, it isn’t just the lights that are impacted; the water and sewer utilities can be as well.
Water tanks eventually need to be refilled and sewage pumps at lift stations can hold only so much before they overflow. A natural disaster could mean days before power is restored. To help keep faucets running and toilets flushing in dire times, the City of Tallassee has applied and been awarded a grant for a portable 60-kilowatt generator.
“It can be moved between any utility station like a utility station like water tank or sewer lift station or pump station,” Tallassee deputy fire chief David Rogers said. “It could be used at city hall. It is mobile, it could be used at multiple locations.”
Rogers said the grant is not only for a trailer mounted generator but to also preinstall connection points at water and sewage pumps across the city.
“It is literally a plug and play, just like plugging in an extension cord,” Rogers said. “If the power is out in a particular area, let's say downtown and the main water tank and they need the pumps to run to fill that tank. The generator can be pulled there, plugged in.”
The permanent plug in stations do increase the cost of the project but when needed, will make using the generator easy.
“You plug a few wires in versus figuring out how to wire it up in the emergency,” Rogers said.
Rogers has been working on the grant since 2020. Then-Mayor John Hammock and he realized if sewage pumps went without power for extended periods of time sewage spills would occur at pumping stations, which could incur fines from the Alabama Department of Environmental Management, according to Rogers.
The generator can also be used to help power shelters and food distribution sites during a disaster. The system can also be utilized by a network of generators in Elmore County.
“Tallassee might not be affected but Titus or Lightwood might be,” Rogers said. “This one could go there. There could be times when we need the county to come in and help us.”
The grant is the result of hazard mitigation money that was allocated for Hurricane Zeta, a hurricane affecting Alabama and the Gulf Coast in 2020. Tallassee was originally awarded $60,000 where the city match was 10%. But with inflation the grant has been increased to $78,000. Rogers and Tallassee fire chief Eric Jones brought up the topic when the Tallassee City Council was discussing the budget. It is to make sure the council is aware of funding needed to meet the match requirements.
Rogers said some facilities Tallassee such as Community Hospital and the fire station have backup power but nothing available to help with water and sewer. The generator will mean a long-term power loss in the city is not as dire.
“People still have to eat and there are necessary hygiene services such as sewage,” Rogers said. “This is a way of how the city is thinking big picture.”
