Wednesday, February 03, 2010

City gets $250K grant for new pumps

Published Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Andalusia Star News 

Speaker of the House Seth Hammett and state Sen. Jimmy Holley Tuesday announced the award of a $250,000 energy grant to the City of Andalusia to upgrade the city’s main and central wastewater pump stations. The federal energy grant, awarded through the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs, is aimed at helping local governments reduce energy consumption.

The grant will allow the city to replace 10 water pumps at the wastewater treatment plant and central pumping stations. The new models use 25 percent less energy and should save $18,487 in utility costs per year.

Mayor Earl Johnson said the grant requires is 10 percent local match.

“There are five pumps at the central lift station that control 50 percent of the system’s flow,” he explained. “These five pumps consume an average of 500,000 kilowatt hours of electrical energy annually.

“There are five pumps at the main lift station at our Riverside sewage treatment plant that control 100 percent of the entire system’s flow,” he said “These five pumps use approximately 250,000 kilowatt hours of electrical energy annually. Most of these pumps are at least 20 years old and way beyond their useful life and are long overdue for replacement.”

Johnson said all of the pumps are beyond their design lives, and it was just a short matter of time before the Utility Board would have had to pay the full costs for their replacement.

“Everyone recognizes the need to use energy efficiently,” Hammett said, “but the cost of upgrading equipment can be prohibitive for cities struggling in this economy. This grant will help Andalusia be good stewards of both energy and tax dollars.”

Holley commended city leaders for looking for ways to trim costs while improving the environment. “Reducing energy use at the two pump stations by 25 percent each will save the city thousands of dollars for many years to come,” Holley said. Andalusia Mayor Earl Johnson thanked Hammett and Holley for their assistance in obtaining the grant. “We will be able to make the pumping stations much more efficient resulting in a lower cost of operation,” he said. “This will benefit all utility customers.”

The grant was among four economic stimulus grants totaling $839,152 to help four local governments including Andalusia, Ozark, Houston County and Enterprise.