No bottled water? No problem: Tallahassee water supply not in jeopardy by Hurricane Michael
Jeffrey Schweers
As Hurricane Michael churns toward the Florida Panhandle, Tallahassee residents can rest easy that their drinking water is safe and they don't need to amass bottled water.
The city has an abundant, safe water supply drawn from the Floridan Aquifer deep in the ground, with enough redundancies built into it that it is unlikely to fail or become contaminated during a hurricane, a city official said Monday.
"The likelihood that our distribution system is going down is low," said David Roberts, manager for the city's water utility.
Compared to other cities where the water is gathered and treated at a central plant, the city has 26 wells throughout the county, Roberts said. And each well has its own mini-treatment plant to disinfect water and make it ready for consumption.
"During Hurricane Hermine, we lost power citywide, but we never lost water to a single customer," Roberts said.
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Eight wells have auxiliary engines, which are hand-operated in case of an electrical failure or the main engine blowing out. Ten wells have emergency power generators.
Those are more than enough pumps to keep the city's customers supplied to the gills with fresh drinking water. The city uses only 8-10 wells during normal operations.
"Those wells can provide more than enough water to everyone," Roberts said.
Still, Roberts said, it is a good idea to keep bottled water on hand during a major storm. A tree could fall in someone's yard and disrupt the distribution lines directly into the house.
Pre-storm preparations are underway, he said. Crews are fueling up all the engines and generators and making sure chemicals are delivered by the end of the workday Tuesday.
"We are making sure everything is topped off and available for a solid week," Roberts said.
Contact Schweers at jschweers@tallahassee.com. Follow him on Twitter @jeffschweers.
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