A year later, city preps for next big freeze

Around 11 p.m. last Tuesday, one of the city’s three main water plants went offline.

For about 10 minutes, the East Water Purification Plant had no power at all. Department of Public Works employees transferred the facility over to generators maintained by NRG, and by 3 a.m. the plant had returned to the main power network.

The switch was a test run, part of the city’s efforts to ensure the water system will function the next time the power goes out, as it did a year ago Monday, when freezing temperatures nearly brought down Texas’ electric grid. The storm and resulting power outages left more than 240 people dead, cities scrambling to provide water for residents, and millions of dollars in damages to homes and businesses from burst water pipes.

The grid’s near collapse last February had drastic consequences for local governments, none more acute than the challenge water systems confronted in trying to keep taps flowing without power. In Houston, the outages and difficulties with backup generators resulted in a four-day boil-water notice. In Texas, providers to nearly two-thirds of the population were unable to send clean water to customers.

Public Works has done test runs, called “black starts,” for years at its main water plants, but now has expanded the practice to eight other critical facilities. The department also has provided CenterPoint with an updated list of critical infrastructure, hired new contractors for generator maintenance at pump stations, pursued an $8 million grant for wastewater plant generators, stocked up on chemicals to treat water and roadways and drafted protocols to distribute bottled water.

“We are more prepared than a year ago, but still not as prepared as we want to be and need to be,” said Mayor Sylvester Turner, who has managed responses to seven federally declared disasters in his six-year tenure. “It’s a constant work in progress.”

During the freeze, workers scrambled to fix generators, maintain pressure in the system, and account for chlorine shortages and spare supplies of bottled water.

The prolonged power outages proved more daunting than those in Hurricane Harvey or any other event of the last 15 years, said Drew Molly, who leads drinking water operations for Public Works.

“This one took the prize. This was a bad situation,” Molly said. “As rough as it was, I think there’s some things … that are going to make Houston more resilient going forward.”

The most substantial generator failure in the city’s network occurred at the northeast plant, where machines tripped offline during the switch to backup power and led to an hourslong outage. Molly said Public Works is working on a procedure to proactively switch to generators before the power goes out to avoid that scenario in future storms, though it may require state approval.

The city also hired a contractor last August to maintain generators at its seven pump stations — which help move water through the system and pressurize it — and at its Katy Addicks groundwater plant. It also is pursuing an $8 million grant to equip a few of its 39 wastewater plants with generators; those facilities currently lack back-up power.

Public Works is working with CenterPoint to identify potential infrastructure improvements. One idea: provide more than one feeder line into pump stations, which would offer another avenue for power if the first one is interrupted.

“If one feeder goes down, you have a second feeder. If the second feeder goes down, you have a generator,” Molly said.

John C. Tracy, director of the Texas Water Resources Institute at Texas A&M, said those kinds of common-sense adjustments often are the most prudent system upgrades after severe events.

“You cannot prevent this from happening, all you can do is prepare and respond,” Tracy said.

Texas should include the risk of weather events like hurricanes and winter storms in its water plan, drafted every five years to address the state’s water needs. Currently, it only accounts for droughts, Tracy said. The change could help make billions of dollars available to cities and water authorities for a broader array of projects through what is called the State Water Implementation Fund for Texas, which provides low-cost financing to help communities develop water infrastructure.

The city last Wednesday announced it is working on a regional master energy plan with CenterPoint called Resilient Now. That plan, and its costs, still are in the works, but Turner said it could include important tools to bolster power for residents in future weather events.

The city and utility are exploring the use of mobile electric stations that can power between 200 and 300 homes while utility crews work to repair downed lines. A state legislative change gave utility providers more leeway to set those up, Turner said, and the city hopes to deploy several in areas known to lose power more frequently.

“Many of these areas are in a constant state of need, recovery, trauma, and they’re not moving forward fast enough,” Turner said. “Part of Resilience Now is to put them in a better place to deal with the shocks and stresses, such that when the storms come, we can move forward.”

Harris County, which does not manage a water system or fire department like the city, has made limited changes, so far.

Brian Murray, spokesman for the county’s Office of Emergency Management, said the agency has improved its text message outreach to residents during emergencies.

OEM also has created a list of residents on the State of Texas Emergency Assistance Registry, or STEAR, many of whom have mobility issues and special health needs, to warn them ahead of a storm or potential blackout.

“We started this during Tropical Storm Nicholas last year,” Murray said. “We proactively sent a message to all the STEAR registrants in the county letting them know … this might be a good chance for you to make sure your hurricane plans are ready to go.”

Murray said the prearranged outreach network will help first responders comply with a law the Legislature passed last year requiring counties and municipalities to perform wellness checks on medically fragile residents during disasters. He said this is important because residents in STEAR may not be signed up for some of the county’s other alert systems.

Zach Despart contributed to this report. dylan.mcguinness@chron.com