Generator blamed for Halifax sewage flood
Posted Nov 26, 2011 07:49:53 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
An overloaded generator, not human error, is to blame for the flood at Halifax’s sewage treatment plant January 2009.
The Chronicle Herald reports that’s the findings in an independent report into what caused the flood that caused the 18-month closure and $11 million worth of damage.
The report found that after a power outage, a generator that supplied power to three of the four pumps came back online but had a load measured nearly 20 per cent higher than it was designed to handle.
The generator shut down, taking with it three-quarters of the pumps designed to keep the regulate the amount of sewage in the well
Halifax Water spokesman James Campbell tells the paper a lawyer advised the utility against releasing the 25-page audit until reaching a deal with its insurance company and completing related court cases.
The $150,000 forensic audit by CH2M Hill of Colorado was completed in June 2009 but not released to the public until Friday afternoon.
