By Robin Hartman

Source: Rob Blair (EEC) – Map showing pump station distribution, color-coded based on auxiliary power availability.

Immediately following the devastating floods in Eastern Kentucky in June 2022, power outages or storm damage left 22 drinking water systems and 18 wastewater systems without service. It took three months to get all water services restored to 34,000 customers.

The tornado outbreak in December 2021 had caused a similar impact. Nearly 56,000 customers were without water services after the catastrophe.

Kentucky has had six significant regional weather events in the past 24 months. Common to all these events were power outages. Drinking and wastewater outages followed, often complicating emergency responses to critical services like health care facilities.

Common to many of these emergencies was the inability of emergency responders to hook up generators to drinking and wastewater facilities due to a lack of transfer switches. About 1,700 (85 percent) of the state’s drinking water facilities and 3,938 (75 percent) of the state’s wastewater facilities don’t have auxiliary power.

The Kentucky Rural Water Association (KRWA), a private, non-profit made up of member utilities across the Commonwealth, knew auxiliary power was needed. In collaboration with the Office of Energy Policy, it went to work to minimize water outages and enhance resiliency during similar events.

It determined that a simple solution existed – the installation of manual generator switchgear that in the event of a power outage allows for a quick and safe connection to a generator. However, most water pump stations in Kentucky don’t have generators and aren’t set up with a generator transfer switch.

“Based on our experience of coordinating generator deliveries during disasters, I estimate the 95 percent without auxiliary power don’t have transfer switches installed,” said Joe Burns, director of programs and operations for KRWA.

So a pilot program was initiated, the first of its kind in Kentucky, to help pump station infrastructure become auxiliary-power ready through the installation of manual generator switches.

Through a transfer switch grant program funded in FY-2022 by the Office of Energy Policy, 41 utilities submitted applications for 93 facility retrofits. The requests totaled $640,300. Transfer switch pricing with installation can cost between $2,500 and $25,000 with $7,000 being the average cost. The Hazard Water Department and Estill County Water District were the first grant recipients.

“The response from our water and wastewater utilities has been overwhelmingly positive,” Burns said. “The expected asset life of the switch panel is 50 years and will provide redundancy to the utility well into the future. Our goal is to provide the switch with installation and sufficient footage of power cabling so that training and standard operating procedures (SOPs) will be uniform across all utilities in the program.”

The program hasn’t been without challenges. Supply chain issues have contributed to long lead times in acquiring the switch panels, and workforce shortages of qualified electricians and compliance with Buy American requirements have slowed installation, driven up prices and have limited the number of utilities that could receive funding.

But the KRWA project is an example of how Kentucky’s State Energy Program is supporting local communities, says Kenya Stump, executive director of the Cabinet’s Office of Energy Policy.

 “It’s a rewarding feeling to know our grant dollars are touching the lives of our citizens when they need it most,” Stump said. “As we have experienced in the past several years, major weather events are trending with increased intensity. Managing systems to ensure critical facilities continue to provide essential services is key to building resilient communities.”