PHILIPSBURG- The out of the box thinking of Devon Dembrook led to the quick restoration of electricity after the passing of Hurricane Omar. After going through Hurricane Omar with the Cay Bay power plant running at full capacity, power production was finally halted when the rough seas and sea weed clogged the engines cooling system. Even though the GEBE plant had sustained minimal damage or the electrical grid during the hurricane, it was powerless to be able to supply any electricity without access to sufficient clean cooling water.
Power plant technicians were not able to run the generators at full capacity as the cooling systems became clogged and needed to be shut down. The lack of power not only left the community in darkness, but also affected the water supply. Within days, the water tanks began to run dry because the water production plant was not receiving enough sustained power to start producing water.
During the briefing sessions organized to assess the situation, the idea was raised by Devon Dembrook, the Supervisor for Electrical and Water Grid, to use brine from the water production plant for the cooling systems.
The water production plant uses seawater in the reverse osmosis process to produce potable water. The brine or waste water, containing salt that is unsuitable for drinking, is then returned to the sea.
Dembrook's idea was immediately seized upon by the team. The water distribution team along with the power plant technicians worked long into the night to lay the pipes to be able to redirect this discarded water into the holding tank for the power plant cooling systems.
Once the brine water was redirected, it was a matter of hours before GEBE could increase production of electricity, which provided the water production plant with enough power to start producing water. Less than 24 hours after implementing Dembrook's idea, the water production reached full capacity and electricity production met the demand.
GEBE Managing Director, William Brooks, commended his team for their outstanding response in the aftermath of Hurricane Omar. He also singled out Dembrook for his creative idea and his response team for their immediate action that enabled GEBE to restore utilities to St. Maarten even sooner.
