Houston Public Media

City Water Supply Uninterrupted After a Hurricane

Hurricane Ike forced the city of Houston to shut down operations of its water and wastewater treatment facilities. It also resulted in contamination issues. 60-percent of the oyster crop was destroyed because of the effluent that hit Galveston Bay. Bocci Engineering is a Houston-based energy efficiency and sustainability firm. Its president Leanne Lami says a a study done for the city of Houston found that using a non-grid alternative — combined heat and power — would eliminate the need to shut off the municipal water supply in the event of another Ike.

“This project that we’ve developed for the city of Houston for Almeda-Sims Wastewater Treatment Plant, is a green, combined heat and power solution that will produce about one and half mega-watts of power, and provide them on going reliability for operations, to help them avoid those contamination issues.”

Listen to the story and read the full article here