|
Facility Name:
|
Hartford - Quechee
|
|
Caller Name And Title:
|
Oscar Garcia - Operator
|
|
Municipality:
|
Town of Hartford
|
|
Location (street or site):
|
Whitman Brook Pump Station, 43.652825, -72.443208
|
|
Incident Start Date:
|
06/22/2024
|
|
Incident End Date:
|
06/24/2024
|
|
Incident Start End Times:
|
06:00 am to 08:00 am
|
|
Estimated Duration Of Event:
|
|
|
Nature Of Incident:
|
Discharged untreated sewage
|
|
Estimated Volume (gallons):
|
30000
|
|
Cause Of Discharge:
|
Alarm malfunction
|
|
Type Of Obstruction:
|
Likely a power surge, burning out the pu
|
|
Point Of Discharge:
|
Manhole
|
|
Corrective Action Taken:
|
Following visual inspection, the pumps were reset and are currently set to operate in 'Hand" mode. Within several minutes the overflowing stopped. Calls to repair vendors and the VT DEC were made once the discharge had stopped. At this time we await return calls and service scheduling. The Town's Public Health Officer was also notified.
--- 06/25/24 9:00 am Update ---
On-site at 06/24/24 at 3:00 pm and 9:00 pm. Water level remained in the primary tank, below the riser section. Roughly 8" remained prior to reaching the riser section for each of these visits. The liquid was pumped down to 6" depth +/- each time . Note that the 6" depth exposes about one half of the height of a pump. The pumps rely on the wet well liquid for cooling, so further pump down could cause premature damage.
On site at 06/25/24 at 5:15 am. Water level roughly 1.5' below riser section. Pumped out to 6" depth. Returned to plant to be informed that a repair contractor is expected early afternoon to inspect and possibly install a temporary panel which will return the station to automatic pump cycling. At 8:16 am, VT DEC called to be updated. They indicated that they had not received the Public Alert notification. The notification was submitted while on the phone. A follow-up call was scheduled for tomorrow morning. We anticipate a noontime visit for pumping, and will continue periodic visits until a replacement control panel or system is installed.
--- 06-25-24 2:15 pm Update ---
Electrician confirmed cause was lightning strike / power surge. He has found a temporary work around to make the station fully automated in the short term. We are sending station information to them for replacement components. We will perform a site visit tonight to ensure the station is functioning correctly, and begin daily checks until we are confident the station is working as required.
The station was fully pumped down at roughly 12:30 pm by the electrician before he began his assessment. Roughly 2' of space was open / available in the primary tank when pumping began.
|
|
Waterbody Impacted:
|
Tributary of the Ottauquechee River
|
|
Contact Name And Title For Public:
|
Bryan Gazda, Director of Public Works
|
|
Call Date:
|
|
|
WW Staff Called:
|
|
|
Type Of Notification:
|
nForms
|
|
Public Overflow Report For Web:
|
Y
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Description Of Incident:
|
Town of Hartford - Quechee Wastewater Treatment Facility
Whitman Brook Pump Station
Incident Report Timeline
06/21/24 to 06/24/24
Friday June 21, 2024:
• Routine pump station check. No abnormalities observed/noted.
Saturday June 22, 2024:
• An emailed report, received on Saturday morning, indicated that on Friday, Pump #1 had 12 starts, ran 170.0 minutes, pumping an estimated 22,950 gallons and Pump #3 had no starts. This is typical as pump #1 is the primary pump. Pump # 3 activates to assist #1 at times of heavy flow.
Sunday June 23, 2024:
• An emailed report, received on Sunday morning, indicated Pumps #1 and #3 had no starts on Saturday.
Monday June 24, 2024:
• An emailed report, received on Monday morning, indicated Pumps #1 and #3 had no starts on Sunday.
• Performed a site visit at roughly 8:00 am.
• Upon arrival we noted the lowest manhole near the station was overflowing and had flooded sufficiently to create a small watercourse to an unnamed tributary of the Ottauquechee River.
• Upon opening the control cabinet, the main pump control display panel was blank, indicating no power.
• The line power was checked for and found to be present. All of the electrical breakers were checked.
• The small back-up battery was replaced.
• Ultimately, we found that the two pumps could only be operated in “Hand” mode.
• The operators developed a tentative plan for visiting the station after hours to ensure it does not overflow.
• Calls to various repair contractors are in progress.
• A call to Michelle Kolb of the VT DEC was also made.
Notes:
We suspect that a power surge or lightning strike may have been the cause due to a few wires inside the panel being burnt. The historical data graphs don’t depict a loss of power.
With the entire pump station being nonoperational, it was unable to send a status/alert signal to the pager. Once reset this morning (Monday 24th) test messages were sent to verify operation.
The Operator on-call over the weekend was not part of the Missions Communications email notification chain. The web site has been updated to ensure each of the Operators is included. Thus, that Operator was unaware of the developing situation. The Missions Communications “Daily Runtime Report” provides motor runtime minutes and estimated gallons pumped for each 24-hour period.
|
|
|
|
|
nForm Submission Number:
|
HQ4-MEDZ-843XS
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|