Trip to Texas and help from a Century businessman prevents raw sewage from running down Flomaton streets
Flomaton Mayor Dewey Bondurant, Jr., praised the efforts of Utilities Superintendent Shaun Moye and his department for avoiding a possible health emergency when the sewer lift station pumps on Palafox Street, near Church's Chicken, malfunctioned Tuesday morning.
Moye said the problem was discovered about 9 a.m. Tuesday when both pumps quit working. Moye added that the old pumps were beyond repair and he and another worker drove to Beaumont, Texas, to purchase a pump. He noted the old pumps had been in operation for 25 to 30 years.
With sewage backing up, Charlie Brown of Century provided the use of his sewer truck to haul the backed up sewage to Flomaton's sewage lagoon on Martin Luther King Drive.
“Sewage would have spilled into the road and businesses and houses in the area would have backed up,” Moye said. “It would have caused an immediate life and health situation.”
Moye also noted if the sewage had spilled into the roadway, the town could have possibly been subject to fines from the Alabama Department of Emergency Management.
Moye estimated about 15 truckloads of sewage were taken from the station to the lagoon, where it would have gone anyway if the pumps didn't fail.
He also said the sewage was dumped into the first cell, which is where all sewage pumped into the lagoon begins to start the treatment process.
“We were trying to keep a major problem from happening and we had no other options,” Moye said.
Moye and another employee headed to Beaumont shortly after 9 a.m. Tuesday and returned to Flomaton about 1 a.m. Wednesday. They were back installing the new pump at 5 a.m. Wednesday.
Moye said the one new pump cost about $4,500 and the town will need to purchase another one, but his first priority was to fix the immediate problem.
Mayor Bondurant said Moye's quick decision prevented some major issues for the town and the residents.
“Doing the job Shaun does couldn't have been done better,” Bondurant said. “He made the right choice. He looks after the whole town and we couldn't ask for anyone to do a better job.”
Bondurant also thanked Brown for making his sewer truck available to the town.
“Charlie really helped us out when we were in a big bind,” Bondurant said. “That really helped us avoid a major problem. He did the town a big favor or we might have had raw sewage running up and down the road and face possible fines.”
