A malfunctioning pump station in Lafayette Township has forced
nearly 80 customers of the Bradford City Water Authority –
including the Federal Correctional Institution-McKean and Bradford
Regional Airport – to conserve water. Officials are hoping the
station is on-line again by late today.
Authority Executive Director Kim Benjamin said Thursday an
electrical malfunction in the primary pump, located midway between
Lewis Run and FCI-McKean along Big Shanty Road, went down late
Wednesday night, causing the system to transfer over to a secondary
backup pump. However, after a few hours of “run time” that pump had
a bearing go bad on it.
“It essentially put both the primary and secondary system out of
commission,” Benjamin said. “We are asking our customers in that
area to conserve water as a precautionary measure until we get back
in operation.”
Officials said mostly residential water customers have been
affected, including those along Big Shanty Road and Route 59, some
of which just came online not too long ago when new lines were run
through the township to the airport.
Water storage tanks that serve the area are at extremely low
levels, according to officials, requiring the conservation efforts
to take place.
“We had to pull motors out of the pump station,” Benjamin said,
adding the authority is hoping to have one back from being repaired
by early this afternoon. If everything goes as planned, it will be
reinstalled by late this afternoon and water will be delivered to
the storage tanks.
Benjamin said the backup “threw a bearing” at the same time the
original was down for the electrical repairs, causing the
circumstances to unfold.
“We have a large number of pump stations throughout the system,
most of which are set up with dual capabilities,” Benjamin said.
“At the time of these failures, there is adequate water, but
without the ability to restore that, it creates a water storage
issue.”
According to Benjamin, the pump station in question contains two
motors which deliver 350 gallons of water per minute.
Benjamin said the newer water storage tank located near the
airport along Route 59 – containing about 400,000 gallons of water
to that portion of the system – “originally helped us out with
additional water storage when the incident happened.”
“In a situation like this, it gives us a longer amount of time
to react,” Benjamin said.
More than 40 residents along the Route 59 corridor are eligible
to hook up to the water line in that area. By comparison, the
installation of a water tower years ago near the prison – one of
the largest customers the authority has in its fold – allowed
residents along Big Shanty Road to transfer onto the municipal
water system.
Benjamin said the prison has its own ground level storage tank
that has water supplied to it by the authority; it has also been
used during the period of low water levels.
“They (prison) are conserving the water they have and deferring
anything they can over the repair period,” Benjamin said, adding
officials between both parties have been in constant contact
throughout the past few days.
According to FCI-McKean’s Camp Administrator and Executive
Assistant Monica Recktenwald, the institution has a contingency
plan in place for such an emergency; it has also activated water
conservation measures.
“We remain in close contact with the (water) authority,”
Recktenwald said. “We are running as normal.”
A similar scenario has played out at the airport, where Director
Tom Frungillo said he was contacted by Benjamin early Thursday
morning.
“I haven’t noticed anything up here,” Frungillo said, adding the
airport’s normal operations have not been affected. “We have asked
Hertz (a car rental service located at the airport) to not wash
cars. It’s been pretty much business as usual.”
Benjamin said residents can conserve water by doing the obvious,
including putting off any laundry work. “Anything residential
customers can do to help us through the next 24 to 48 hours will
help and is greatly appreciated.”
