No power, no problem

BTMUA has backup
generators to handle blackout situations
Correspondent

BRICK –– The Brick Township Municipal Utility Authority (BTMUA) has the power, and it is not afraid to use it.

When a major power outage struck dozens of cities across the Northeast and Canada just after 4 p.m. on Aug. 14, the BTMUA saw voltage fluctuations coming from Jersey Central Power & Light (JCP&L), and switched to in-house generator power.

At the authority’s Aug. 18 meeting, BTMUA Executive Director Kevin Donald stressed the necessity of a backup power supply.

"Even if all of Brick Township is without power, people will still have potable water," Donald said. "We’ve never experienced a time when we couldn’t provide Brick Township with water, even during rolling blackouts."

The water treatment plant, which converts water from the Metedeconk River into drinking water, can process up to 16 million gallons of water per day.

"Our computer system monitors JCP&L’s voltages, and when it saw a dip in voltage around the time of the blackout, the generators came on automatically," Donald said.

The water treatment plant operated on generator power for 24 hours during the blackout, before it switched back to electricity. The BTMUA’s generators can produce 2.5 megawatts of power and require approximately 1,000 to 1,200 gallons of diesel fuel a day to operate. The BTMUA maintains a supply of 3,500 gallons of fuel, which can provide power for up to three days without refueling.

The generators were refueled the following day, but in a major emergency, when refueling may not come so quickly, Donald said the BTMUA is prepared.

"We can cut back on non-essential operations to make the fuel last three, five or seven days," Donald added.

A week before the blackout, the BTMUA’s generators turned on after the primary power line into the BTMUA complex shorted out.

"We experienced our own little blackout when two birds on a line caused a fuse to blow," Donald said. "We switched to generator power, repaired the fuse and then switched back."

In other business the BTMUA announced the retirement of Robert Roblenski, director of customer accounts, effective Oct. 31. Roblenski, a Brick resident for 38 years, has worked at the BTMUA for 11 years. Roblenski will be re­placed by former Brick Zoning Board member Ray Gunther.

The Reservoir Sponsorship Program is making "slow but sure" progress, accord­ing to Marie Sylvester, of the BTMUA executive director’s office. To date, the BTMUA has sold five park benches, two light fixtures and 140 pavers, and has raised $12,000.

Samples of the three different-sized brick pavers, park benches and lighting fixture are on display in front of the BT­MUA office at 1551 Route 88 west. The deadline for sponsorship is Sept. 30. For more information, call (732) 458-7000, ext. 471, or visit the BTMUA Web site at www.brickmua.com.