Water authority installs generator with grant

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ELSANOR, Alabama — Thanks to a federal grant, the East Central Baldwin County Water Authority has installed a stand-by generator at its treatment facility located on County Road 87 in Elsanor.

“This is huge news that we wanted to share for our customers,” said ECBC General Manager Ryan Frolik, “and we’re just glat to have finally gotten it put together.”

The 250 kilowatt Cummmins Power Generator was paid for by a 75 percent Hazard Mitigation matching fund grant, Frolik said, which paid $71,000 of the total cost of the project, which ended up being $140,000 when oversite costs were added.

While they have been working on the grant since 2017, the need was never more evident than after Hurricane Sally.

“We were without power here for five days after Hurricane Sally,” Frolik said. “It’s certainly hard to manage the system without a fully operational office.”

Most of the system was run through ECBC’s primary location in Wilcox following the storm, Frolik said.

“The demand on the system has doubled,” he said, “and this generator will provide added capacity to the system in the event of another catastrophic storm.”

Frolik said ECBC is continuing to work to upgrade and the system following the storm. They are also working on another grant application for a generator at the main site.

Initially incorporated as the Rosinton Water and Fire Protection Authority in order to qualify for USDA Rural Development funds to build the system under a Federal program established to provide clean drinking water to people in rural areas.

Founded in 1998, ECBC was built in three phases, beginning with the construction of the facilities on County Road 87, just off of U.S. 90 in the Elsanor community.

Phase 2 included a second water tower, well and treatment facility on County Road 64 in the Rosinton community, with Phase 3 adding additional services.

This public corporation functions as a non-profit water authority and is run by a Board of Directors, with office staff and field/maintenance personnel.

For more information visit eastcentralbaldwinwater.com or call 251-942-1242.