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The Garrett County Department of Public Utilities (DPU) met last week with GC Board of Commissioners chair Ernie Gregg, county administrator Monty Pagenhardt, and representatives of the GC Health Department and Department of Planning and Land Development to assess a recent sewage overflow in the Deep Creek Lake Sewer System.
They provided the following details about the incident and future preventive measures in a press release:
DPU received an emergency pager call on July 11 at approximately 9:45 a.m. regarding an apparent sewage overflow at Pump Station 2-2, located at the intersection of Garrett Highway (Rt. 219) and Lake Shore Drive.
Upon arrival, DPU personnel spoke to a property owner who initiated the emergency call. The person informed the employee that another neighbor noticed the sewage around 7 a.m. but did not report the problem.
DPU personnel assessed and corrected the problem by approximately 10 a.m. and estimated the overflow volume to be approximately 42,000 gallons, based upon the gallons per minute the pump is capable of pumping and the number of cycles it would have pumped in a three-hour duration.
DPU notified the Department of Natural Resources’ (DNR) lake management office and informed personnel of the situation. DNR dispatched a vessel to the area and placed buoys on the water to restrict watercraft from entering the contaminated area. Caution tape was also placed across neighboring docks to the shoreline to restrict the area, and notices were posted in the vicinity.
The Garrett County Health Department’s Environmental Health Services office was also notified, and the incident was reported to the Maryland Department of the Environment’s emergency notification center.
DPU personnel utilized their vacuum/tank truck and removed standing sewage from the surrounding ground and disinfected the affected are. DPU laboratory personnel collected water samples from the contaminated lake area and commenced the analysis process.
Pump Station 2-2 consists of one large wet well containing two 40hp pumps. Wastewater enters the wet well from both the northern and southern sections of the sewer system. When the wastewater reaches a pre-set level, floats connected to the pump controls signal the pump to operate and discharge the wastewater from the wet well into the main sewer line flowing toward the wastewater treatment plant.
A bypass vault is also installed at this pump station, which contains a 30hp.
Following the cleanup process, DPU electricians assessed the components of the pump station in order to determine the cause. Their assessment revealed that an electrical short in the power cord connected to Pump No. 1 occurred.
This short caused the main breaker for the pump station’s electrical controls to trip instead of just the breaker serving Pump No. 1.
When the emergency generator tried to start, it detected a dead short in the system and shut down in order to prevent damage to the generator. If the generator had been able to run, Pump No. 2 and/or the bypass pump would have began operating, but because of the main breaker being rendered inoperable, neither Pump No. 2 nor the bypass pump could be energized, therefore causing the overflow.
In accordance with the Code of Maryland Regulations governing such occurrences, the area affected was posted, and within 24 hours, DPU notified the public with a public service announcement on a radio station serving the immediate area where the overflow occurred.
Additional lake water samples were collected and tested on July 12 and 13. Based on testing results for samples collected on July 13, Environmental Health Services lifted the restriction on entering the water in the affected area on July 14, and the appropriate public service announcement was issued on the local radio station.
The pump stations are currently equipped with indicator lights and an audible alarm system to provide warning of a malfunction.
Upon further review of the electrical malfunction and the risk of potential reoccurrences, DPU is pursuing the addition of either a telemetry or auto-dialer alarm system to supplement current notification components at all main line pump stations.
The department is also performing an assessment of the current electrical components to evaluate possible upgrades and/or replacements and, if required, will secure the services of an independent consultant.
DPU and the county commissioners have also committed to adding a second emergency backup, in addition to the emergency generator, for the pump station operations. Independent Godwin Dri-Prime diesel operated pumps will be purchased and installed at Pump Station 2-2 and several others.
This backup pump will operate and maintain flows if an electrical outage or malfunction of the electrical components or emergency generator occurs.
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