
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 9, 1994                   TAG: 9403100030
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-3   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

PUBLIC SERVICE BOARD PONDERS BUYING GENERATOR BY BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER

To prevent the type of water-system failures caused by last month's storm-related power outages, the Montgomery County Public Service Authority is considering spending $30,000 for a new generator and other equipment.

Four of the PSA's 12 small water systems experienced some loss of service between Feb. 11 and Feb. 15, after a devastating ice storm struck the New River Valley. The hardest hit was the one serving the Phillip Acres neighborhood just east of Prices Fork.

The 6,000-gallon water system and five homes there were without power for 84 hours. The water was out for 82 hours, or nearly 31/2 days, according to a summary prepared by PSA utilities director Gary Gibson.

The other county systems that lost electricity and water service, affecting about 900 customers, included: Shawsville, which lost power for 52 hours and water for 12; the Elliston spring, which lost power for 83 hours and water for 17; and Prices Fork, which lost power for 91 hours and water for 15.

The authority ran the Prices Fork well and one at Bethel with a rented generator for 18 and 20 hours, respectively, during the outage. Even with a generator, it can take as long as a day and a half to refill a water tank.

In two cases, the water outages were prevented or weren't worse because of the size of water storage tanks. Riner, for instance, lost power for 51 hours, but its 100,000-gallon tank kept service flowing.

Gibson's report did not include the effect of power outages on the Blacksburg, Christiansburg and Virginia Tech water system, which is operated by a separate authority, and homeowners with electrically operated private wells.

R.A. "Chip" Worley Jr., an executive vice president with the Anderson and Associates engineering firm in Blacksburg, estimated it will cost $15,000 to buy a new, more powerful generator, and $10,000 to install adapters for the newer type of generators. Engineering fees and other costs would bring the total to approximately $30,000.

The PSA board on Monday directed Gibson to investigate prices on generators and bring back a proposal next month.

by CNB