Defiance council authorizes emergency repair of UV disinfection system after storm flood

Defiance City Council adopted an emergency ordinance July 1 authorizing a contract to repair and restore the ultraviolet disinfection system at the city's wastewater treatment plant after a June 18 storm flooded the UV room and damaged control equipment.

The work is intended to return the facility to its UV-based disinfection process, which council members were told is the final step that kills E. coli before treated wastewater is discharged to the Maumee River. While repairs proceed, plant staff have resumed disinfection with liquid chlorine.

City staff said a fast, powerful nighttime storm on June 18 bent a utility pole outside the wastewater treatment facility and caused a brief electrical flicker. That event, combined with a suspected failure in the plant's battery backup and monitoring systems, left the plant's controls reporting a low flow while actual flow exceeded 15 million gallons, according to presentation materials used at the meeting. When the controls failed to open the plant's influent gates as designed, water overflowed into the UV room and submerged equipment.

"They randomly took apart racks from different reactors, and none of the circuit boards are good," Mark, a plant staff member, told council members when describing an assessment by the equipment manufacturer. He said parts are on a pallet and ready to ship once the city issues a purchase order.

Council members and staff described the damage as extensive but did not provide a final total repair estimate at the meeting. City staff said $33,000 of the vendor's rebuilding list is labor performed with city personnel alongside the manufacturer; the overall sum was characterized as "very large" and not fully specified in the meeting record.

Insurance representatives from Gallagher Bassett and Travelers inspected the facility, staff said. The city reported that standard property-and-casualty policies often exclude losses caused by external electrical events, but this incident appears to involve a software/hardware failure rather than a sustained outage; the city has presented that distinction to insurers and is awaiting determinations.

City staff also described immediate operational steps taken after the flood: they drained the flooded area, reverted to liquid chlorine for disinfection with manual monitoring of residuals, and secured on-site vendor assessment. Staff warned that the temporary liquid-chlorine process is labor-intensive and less automated than the UV system.

During the meeting, Finance and administrative staff said the only line in the current budget large enough to absorb the immediate cost would be capital improvements; using that line would delay other previously planned projects. Staff asked council to authorize the emergency contract so repairs could begin and said they would pursue insurance reimbursement and, if payments come in, seek reappropriation to restore capital projects.

Council members voted to adopt the emergency ordinance authorizing the repair contract. The motion to adopt was seconded by Missus Crutch; recorded votes at the meeting show the ordinance was adopted by unanimous voice votes of members present (one member had been excused). The ordinance captioned the repair, restoration and emergency declaration required to expedite contracting.

Next steps reported at the meeting: staff will issue the purchase order to the equipment vendor to begin rebuilds and work with insurers on claims. No firm completion timeline was specified at the meeting; staff said parts were available and ready to ship pending city authorization.