The blackout that
knocked out powerplants in six states and Ontario also triggered
major disruptions in large segments of the transportation
and water and wastewater treatment systems. Grounded planes
in Canada and the U.S. stranded hundreds of thousands of air
travelers in dark terminals. Millions of people that normally
get home via New York City’s subway system or commuter
rail lines scrambled to find alternate means when electrified
lines went dead at the start of rush hour Aug. 14.
When the New York City subway system’s
famed third rail lost power, some 350,000 riders were trapped.
After reaching safety, riders complained about the absence
of emergency lighting along catwalks and in staircases. The
system resumed full service by Saturday.
Toronto also phased in its system’s
return. "We rely on power from 40 substations,"
says Marilyn Bolton, a Toronto Transit Commission spokeswoman.
The Port Authority of New York
and New Jersey restored its trans-Hudson subway service to
normal service by Friday. This was possible in large part
because of a backup generator in Jersey City, where power
was restored faster than in Manhattan, says Steve Coleman,
an authority spokesman.
The agency’s marine terminals,
mostly on the Jersey side near Newark and Elizabeth, saw minimal
impact to shipping traffic. "We increased patrols as
a security precaution on the Great Lakes and the New York
waterways, but our operational centers and command centers,
including vessel tracking for ships, all have backup power,"
says Jolie Shisslet, a U.S. Coast Guard spokesperson. "There
were some drawbridges in the Great Lakes that were stuck in
the down position…but nothing that lasted long enough
to impact shipping."
Amtrak’s electrified Northeast
Corridor trains stranded 18,000 riders. The Metro-North and
Long Island Railroad commuter lines made limited use of diesel
locomotives. Commuter lines have uninterrupted power systems,
comprising "a tremendous array of batteries that can
provide power for up to six hours to keep [controls and signals]
going until the problem is corrected," says Don Nelson,
a consultant with The Washington Group’s New York City
office and former president of Metro-North. But the batteries
are intended to preserve safety components, not propel trains.
Aviation industry engineers expect
that more airports will now be looking at beefier power emergency
systems, particularly for screening and baggage handling.
"It’s a budget issue," says Susan Kessler,
associate partner with the Syska Hennessy Group, New York
City. The new $939-million terminal at Indianapolis that Syska
Hennessy is designing will have emergency power, she says.
Hunter Fulghum, manager of business
development with Turner Construction Co., New York City, says
some airports already have "very extensive emergency
power systems in place." Turner is on the Boeing team
that holds an ongoing contract to help more than 400 airports
meet U.S. guidelines for baggage screening. "Some of
the machines we installed do come with emergency systems with
the basic package," Fulghum says. But he notes that availability
depends on the airport and situation.
The blackout "will push the
drive toward more [backup] systems on a broader scale,"
Fulghum says. "As we move to full integrated solutions,
undoubtedly airports will have full emergency systems, whether
custom-built or already existing."
Cleveland, Detroit and New York
City had problems with water or wastewater treatment systems.
Officials say New York’s gravity-fed drinking water network
fared well, but the wastewater treatment system spilled nearly
half a billion gallons of untreated effluent into New York
Harbor over two days. A Manhattan pump station designed to
push 100 million gal per day of effluent to Brooklyn’s
310-mgd Newtown Creek treatment plant dumped its load into
the East River because pumps were off line.
Backup diesel generators failed
at Brooklyn’s 60-mgd Red Hook treatment plant and Manhattan’s
170-mgd North River facility, says Charles G. Sturcken, spokesman
for New York City’s Dept. of Environmental Protection.
As a result, DEP will review operation and maintenance procedures,
Sturcken says. The city also plans to expand the pump station
and add backup generation, as part of the Newtown plant upgrade.
The Midwest systems lacked grav-ity’s
advantage. All four of Cleveland’s 400,000-gal capacity
water treatment plants were knocked off line simultaneously.
Power was restored within 24 hours, but startup was a slow
process.
"We pump uphill. If you don’t
have power…you are going to have problems," says
Alex Margevichius, assistant commissioner of engineering for
the Cleveland Division of Water.
The Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer
District lost service from three treatment plants with capacities
ranging from 28 to 110 mgd. All three plants were back in
service within 15 hours, says Tim Tigue, director of operations
and maintenance. One plant east of the city discharged approximately
4 million gal of raw sewage into Lake Erie.
Detroit lost all five water
treatment plants and its massive wastewater treatment plant.
Three of the water treatment plants were back up within three
hours and all were running Saturday. But the Health Dept.’s
precautionary water boiling edict prompted the Detroit Water
and Sewerage Dept. to re-examine its requirements for backup
generators.
