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Power surge knocks out Dunes wastewater plant systems; emergency repairs restore permit compliance
Summary
A power surge damaged starters and blower motors at the Dunes wastewater treatment plant. Farmers Electric completed emergency repairs within 24 hours, restoring the plant to permit-compliant operation. City staff will seek permanent repairs and may request an emergency budget action.
A substantial electrical surge damaged equipment at the Dunes wastewater treatment plant over the weekend, city staff reported. The plant's monitoring system recorded a 1,400-amp surge across the three legs of the service; the event caused an arc flash that destroyed a motor starter and damaged adjacent equipment, and it also damaged two blower motors that provide oxygen to digesters.
Public Works Director Richard said staff shut down main power and activated the emergency generator; when crews arrived Monday the main breaker was off and the plant was not receiving main power. The city called Farmers Electric, which sourced replacement motor starters and performed emergency work that restored three of the starters and allowed the plant PLC to come back online within 24 hours. With those repairs the plant returned to compliant operation and staff began discharging to the appropriate pond.
Richard said the city also has budgeted PLC and related improvements that will accelerate necessary repairs. The city has notified the public utility district and asked the PUD to review its records for a possible source of the surge. Staff noted additional final repairs and mitigation (for example a surge protection device and further PLC work) will be required and that the council will see a future emergency amendment request to complete permanent repairs.
Why it matters: The plant feeds city wastewater systems and must operate within Ecology permit limits; the emergency repair avoided a sustained compliance violation, but the event exposed gaps in telemetry/automatic notifications and raised questions about distribution-level surge protection.
What comes next: Staff will finalize permanent repairs, investigate with the PUD the surge cause, and return to council with an emergency budget amendment to complete the work.
