August 2, 2011
Minimal Tropical Storm Don made landfall in unpopulated Kenedy County about 50 miles south of Corpus Christi on July 29th causing no damage, a slight brief rise in tides and almost no rainfall.
While no hurricane has made landfall within 75 miles of Corpus Christi Bay since Hurricane Celia on August 3, 1970, preparing for the possibility of a storm is a part of living and doing business on the South Texas Coast.
STORM READINESS
For the San Patricio Municipal Water District that means a comprehensive readiness program that begins in May of each year and impacts operations throughout the summer and fall. The peak of the Atlantic hurricane season for South Texas runs from late July to early October.
On June 13th of this year the entire Water District complex of filtration plants and pumps operated on auxiliary power for 4.5 hours in a full storm readiness test.
The District’s water supply, treatment and delivery systems run on electric power and loss of service from the electric power grid for some period after a storm is likely. A major storm event could interrupt power for several days and some remote sites could be out of service for extended periods because of damage or high flood waters.
The District has taken steps over the years to harden facilities and expand the capacity to be self sufficient for a week or more in the aftermath of a severe storm. Large backup generators and diesel-powered auxiliary pumps have been installed. Buildings have been designed to withstand hurricane-force winds and onsite electrical systems and control wiring have been moved underground to protect them from storm damage.
In 2001 the District installed a 1 megawatt diesel powered generator capable of keeping all three water treatment plants and a high service pump station in full operation during a power outage. It provided the District with a new dimension in terms of reliability.
The 192 million gallon Naismith Reservoir and the older 12 million gallon Plant B reservoir store blended surface water that would allow the District to produce water for customers even in the event of a prolonged interruption of raw water supplies from the Nueces River and Lake Texana.
Additionally, part of the standard procedure for the days leading up to a possible storm landfall is making sure that ground storage tanks, clear wells and raw water reservoirs are kept as near full as possible. That means going into the event with about 8 million gallons of treated water at the plant site, 2 million gallons at the West Portland Station and 275,000 gallons in the Ingleside elevated tank. Altogether these onsite supplies would allow the District to deliver water on a restricted basis for about a month.
Water towers and ground storage tanks in customer communities are also filled in advance of a possible storm so that water will be available and because full tanks are structurally stronger and less likely to be damaged by high winds.
In the final hours before an expected storm strike the designated essential operations team would shutdown and seal motors, verify shutdown of customer delivery points and close valves in a sequence intended to maximize the survivability of the entire system.
General Manager Jim Naismith notes that a very important part of the District’s preparation involves working year-round with law enforcement and emergency management officials to build relationships that will be important in the event of a storm. This includes assisting the District’s critical personnel in getting access to the treatment plant complex, pump stations and other remote locations during a time when an evacuation has been ordered or after a storm when travel is being restricted for public safety reasons.
Hurricanes Beulah and Celia
Hurricane Beulah in 1967 and Hurricane Celia in 1970 provided valuable “lessons learned” to help shape the subsequent design of District facilities and our current storm contingency plans.
Beulah made landfall near Brownsville, 130 miles to the south. It resulted in little wind damage in San Patricio and Aransas counties but produced cumulative rainfall amounts over several days of 12 to 30 inches in the region.
The storm sent a wind-driven surge of seawater up the Nueces River and over the Calallen Saltwater Barrier Dam. Over the next four days flooding from the heavy rainfall filled the Nueces River Valley and sent water over what is now the Interstate 37 Nueces River Bridge at Calallen.
Floodwaters damaged equipment at the District’s Edwards Pump Station located just upstream from the Calallen Dam. Completed in 1964, this riverside pump station delivers untreated river water through a 36-inch transmission line to eastern San Patricio County. The road leading to the station was under floodwaters and this prevented repair of electrical equipment for several weeks.
In 1967 all of the communities served by the District got their drinking water from a 24-inch pipeline then owned by Reynolds Metals. It starts at Calallen, runs under the river and then east to the current Water District Complex. The Beulah floods produced high scouring velocity under the highway bridge that broke a section of the cast iron water pipe that provided drinking water to all the towns served by the Water District. There was no way to immediately fix the break because floodwaters continued to rise.
To deal with the emergency the District rushed existing water wells owned by the City of Taft into service, reversed the flow and pumped water back into the transmission system providing a small amount of water. Fire trucks carried well water from Sinton to Odem to help residents there. Water was carefully rationed throughout the service area. Reynolds hired a barge to ferry potable water from Corpus Christi to their docks east of Portland.
After two days the water level at Calallen was low enough to start laying two 3-mile-long, 8-inch lines across the top of the highway bridge. After a week the temporary lines were hooked up, the transmission lines were flushed and service was restored to customers.
Hurricane Celia resulted in severe damage to the electric power transmission system in the Corpus Christi Bay area. That meant almost total interruption of electric power in the region including service to the District’s water treatment plant which had been in service for less than a year. District buildings held up well in the storm but the need for auxiliary power was obvious. A month after the 1970 storm the District purchased its first two emergency power generators and in 1973 it purchased two more.
Backup Power
The 1 megawatt generator has a special history. It was provided to the District by OxyChem to help insure that a continuous supply of water is available to the company’s Ingleside co-generation and chemical manufacturing plants.
The mobile generator was acquired as a precaution by Occidental Chemical Corp. to supply corporate offices in Dallas in case electric service was interrupted by system failures associated with the calendar change on January 1, 2000 (otherwise known as the Y2K Problem or the Millennium Bug impacting computer systems).
Once it was clear the generator was not needed in Dallas it was offered to OxyChem 
production plants. Local plant managers knew the District had limited backup power capacity and requested the surplus unit be provided so the District would be able to meet local needs.
A 3,000 sq.ft. building was built to house the generator and a 4,500 gallon fuel storage tank was added. That is enough fuel to keep the generator running for several days.
The 1,450 horsepower diesel engine and generator are put in operation for approximately an hour each week to ensure the unit is in good mechanical working order.
As an additional benefit, the 1 megawatt unit allows electrical energy load shedding at peak load times to reduce overall energy costs to the District and its customers.
Jake Krumnow, District operations and maintenance manager, served as coordinator for the 2001 generator project which included design and construction of the new building, placement of equipment and tying the generator and switch gear into existing water treatment plant systems. The District invested $365,000 to plan the project, erect the building, provide support equipment and expand the site backup power distribution systems.
