We learned more about last week's power failure at Wichita's water treatment plant and pump station which led to a boil water advisory for water customers.
Two backup electrical generators were manually started at 8 Tuesday evening, after thunderstorms caused a power blip. At 5:03 a.m. Wednesday, staff started a third generator to power additional pumps needed to cover the city's morning water needs. However, power demand exceeded the capacity of the two operating generators before the third had enough time to fully power up. That caused a power failure, and within 4 minutes, water pressure near the facility dropped from 90 to 40 PSI. On the city's outer edges, pressure was lost completely.
Electricity was restored by 5:45 a.m. and water pressure was partially restored by 6:06 a.m. It took roughly an hour to fully pressurize the entire system.
A little after 7 a.m., the city, in contact with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, issued the boil water advisory. Staff collected water samples from 195 test stations. After tests came back negative for contamination, the advisory was rescinded at 5:17 p.m. Thursday.
The city says generators are tested monthly. During re-testing Friday, staff identified a generator programming issue, which has been addressed. Equipment at an electrical substation has been tested as well.
The city plans to have an independent analysis of its operating procedures.
All of this information was presented at a city council workshop Tuesday morning.
