What should you ask your water co/utility?

**TucsonMax** · 06-27-2010, 01:02 PM

I don't know, what I don't know. I like to ask my local water company what would happen if the grid went down? What are the "correct" questions I should ask so I can get full and honest answers? Thanks!

**Justin Case** · 06-27-2010, 01:24 PM

I would ask them if they have a plan in place to bring in generators to pump water, and if so, how long before water service would be restored, and how long aprox could you draw water from the tank reserve,

But I wouldnt depend on them anyway, get some containers and store some water for you and your family,

**Rick** · 06-27-2010, 02:15 PM

Ask them how they switch the tower pumps on and off. Some use telephone lines as a simple open and close circuit. If the cable is damaged they will not be able to turn the pump off or on depending in the state it was in when the cable was damaged. I went out on one in the middle of winter where they couldn't turn the pump off.

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Some use radio and some use microwave to control the pumps.

You might also ask if they have redundant power feeds at their plant. This same plant that runs the water tower above had a huge back up generator to run the plant if they lost commercial power. Unfortunately, it routed out of the plant back into the same transformer the commercial power used. When snow blew in under the weather hood and shorted out the transformer, nothing worked.

**TucsonMax** · 06-27-2010, 03:34 PM

Thanks Rick.... let' stake 1 step back... I've never seen a water tower in Tucson. I live in the foothills of the mountains, so they may be hidden somewhere, I don't know. We have a reservoir somewhere (because the news always talks about its level and our drought.) What else might I ask?

**crashdive123** · 06-27-2010, 04:20 PM

In addition to the above, I'd find out if you were on a gravity fed system or not. Also, what is the utility companies procedures if they issue a boil water alert to notify customers.

**Rick** · 06-27-2010, 04:33 PM

You will have multiple towers. They may not be aerial towers like the pic above but you'll have storage tanks scattered throughout town. You have to have storage tanks in case of a fire, broken lines, unusual increase in water consumption and a whole bunch of other reasons. There are there somewhere.

Ask them for a copy of their disaster recovery plan and their business continuity plan. They should have one of each and they should describe how they will respond to a variety of crisis.

**Batch** · 07-03-2010, 05:33 PM

If you can not watch TV you had better boil water here. Otherwise they will issue a boil water option and friends call each other that are affected to let them know.

We just dig into the gallon water stock pile. The boil water warnings are usually short lived except after big storms.

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