The Value of Planning and Prepositioning:
Gulf Coast Authority’s Reliability During Hurricane Harvey On August 26, Hurricane Harvey dumped several feet of rain on the communities along the Galveston Bay. One of the untold stories from the storm was the work of the wastewater treatment operators serving refineries and petrochemical facilities in the Galveston Bay area. Gulf Coast Authority (GCA) provides regional industrial wastewater treatment services for many of these industries and also provides regional municipal wastewater treatment. Its wastewater treatment operations run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. When Harvey hit, GCA’s employees were prepared to provide uninterrupted service to both its municipal and industrial customers. GCA Chief Technical Officer Gordon Peterson and GCA Chief Financial Officer Elizabeth Free spoke with Irrigation Leader’s editor-in-chief, Kris Polly, about storm preparation and operations and the scope of the storm and its aftermath. Kris Polly: Please describe the scope of your industrial operations and facilities. Gordon Pederson: We’ll start with the Washburn Tunnel Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility, which is on the Houston Ship Channel in Pasadena. It treats the process wastewater from several refineries, chemical plants, and bulk storage facilities. The facility also treats 1 million gallons of municipal wastewater a day from the city of Pasadena. The Bayport Industrial Wastewater Treatment Facility, located in the Bayport Industrial Complex along the bay, has some domestic sewerage coming in from the cities of LaPorte and Shore Acres and serves more than 65 petrochemical customers. The 40-Acre Industrial Wastewater Facility treats wastewater from two chemical plants and a marine terminal operation in Texas City. PHOTOS COURTESY OF GULF COAST AUTHORITY.
Kris Polly: How did the GCA prepare for the storm? Gordon Pederson: We have an established hurricane plan that was activated. On August 24, we initiated the first phase of the plan, in which we prepared the facilities for the storm, checked all our provisional supplies for our employees on shift, tied down anything that could be blown away, and checked all our emergency equipment.
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MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER
