Beech Tree News Network

The Butler County Water Plant was the scene of an emergency exercise recently when employees of the Butler County Water System and Warren Rural Electric Cooperative Corporation went through a drill designed to represent a power outage of more than six hours.

Bryan Tillery of BCWS explained that during the course of this exercise the plant had been running off of a diesel powered generator all day. "During an extended power outage, we have to coordinate with WRECC to power the water plant and the intake down at the river."

"We can isolate the plant from the rest of the system if the power is out," explained Chris Burden of WRECC, "The water system will still be able to supply water to everyone."

In the event of an extended outage, a diesel powered generator will kick on and power only the plant and the intake pumps down at the river. The water plant is still able to produce the highest quality water according to Tillery.

BCWS and WRECC coordinate for this emergency exercise two times a year; when time changes in the fall and spring. Since they began carrying out this exercise, they have never had to use these emergency procedures in a real life situation.