MONMOUTH BEACH — The Two Rivers Water Reclamation Authority (TRWRA) is flood-proofing its treatment plant after nearly 4 feet of water surged through the facility during superstorm Sandy, causing several million dollars in damage.
Michael Gianforte, TRWRA executive director, said in a Feb. 5 interview that the authority has applied to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for funding for mitigation work at the plant, which is situated on a peninsula in the Shrewsbury River.
“As part of our working with FEMA we are not only repairing what’s been damaged but also applying for assistance for mitigation money,” he said. “Instead of raising our administration building we put in a doorjamb. It’s a steel plate with gaskets on it that makes all of our doors watertight. We plan on doing that around the entire building.”
Gianforte discussed some of the damage the plant sustained during the Oct. 29 superstorm.
“We lost roofs, we had our air-scrubbing biofilters inundated with saltwater, and our administration building was flooded,” he said. “In our collection system, where we have approximately 200 miles of pipe, our main problem was flooding of pumping stations and their emergency generators.
“We also had substantial damage to our main pumping station structure, which is about 34 feet below grade and handles all the sewerage load going to our treatment plant,” he added.
He said the authority has submitted documents to FEMA and expects to receive at least 75 percent of the costs expended related to the storm.
According to Gianforte, the authority hired a consultant to help with the FEMA reimbursement application and has already received funds from the New Jersey Utility Authority Joint Insurance Fund.
He said the authority is proceeding with repairs while waiting for FEMA funding.
“We are doing everything we need to do, whether it is rebuilding generators, replacing pumps, replacing our biofilters,” Gianforte said. “In no way are we waiting for FEMA. We are doing what we need to do no matter what and at the same time we are processing our paperwork to submit to FEMA.”
Gianforte said a 2005 plant upgrade project helped to limit the storm damage.
“The majority of the tanks and buildings at the sewer plant remained intact,” he said. “Our entire treatment plant property was under between 2 and 4 feet of water.
“The structures of those buildings and tanks were unaffected, but the electrical surges and the loss of power for two weeks and flooding of saltwater through our electrical system caused substantial damage,” he added.
The treatment plant was without power for almost 14 days, Gianforte said, but service was maintained using backup power.
“We have two emergency generators, generating almost three megawatts of power,” he said. “So while everything was flooded and our big pump station was under 17 feet of water, our crews worked through the night to get our main station running and all sewerage being processed within 10 hours.
“We had power, but there was no way to use it with all of our pumping stations under water.”
Gianforte said portable pumps the size of a minivan were used to pump out the main pumping station.
He also said electrical specialists were brought in to work with his team to get the station working.
Gianforte noted that the authority workers were prepared for the superstorm.
“We were preparing that Friday, the guys knew what to do and we had a command control center here at the plant,” he said. “The guys that were here during the middle of the night were somewhat trapped, but they still had the ability to monitor everything that went on.”
According to Gianforte, there has not been a rate calculation since the storm.
The TRWRA treatment plant and collection system serves six original member towns: Oceanport, Shrewsbury Borough, Little Silver, West Long Branch and Monmouth Beach, where the TRWRA is based. Its customer towns are Red Bank, Rumson, Sea Bright, Shrewsbury Township, Eatontown and parts of Tinton Falls and Fort Monmouth.
The TRWRA was created in 1965 and became operational in 1971. It was originally designed to handle 10 million gallons per day (MGD). Improvements made in 1991-1992 increased the capacity to 11.4 MGD.