ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Thursday, October 24, 1996             TAG: 9610240017
SECTION: CURRENT                  PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: LISA APPLEGATE STAFF WRITER

TRUCK WRECK DEMOLISHES PUMP STATION BUT NO INTERRUPTION IN WATER SERVICE, OFFICIAL SAYS

A tractor-trailer careened down a hill and smashed into a water pump station on busy Peppers Ferry Road Wednesday, demolishing one end of the square brick building and spewing thousands of gallons of water 20 feet into the air.

Though the wreck temporarily shut down the water supply system to 50,000 people in Blacksburg and Christiansburg, reserve tanks in both communities holding several million gallons of water prevented the morning accident from having any immediate impact on water supplies.

"People won't even notice," said Jerry Higgins, superintendent manager of the Blacksburg-Christiansburg-VPI Water Authority.

About 45 minutes after the wreck, workers from the water authority and Christiansburg turned off the five valves that fed water into the booster pumps, and the spewing water dropped to a trickle.

Higgins expected the water system to be rerouted by Wednesday evening, so water would be pumped from the water treatment plant on the New River directly to the towns and Virginia Tech, looping around the damaged pump station. Higgins said the authority had run several practice trials redirecting water that way and was confident the water flow would be uninterrupted.

The scene at the plant Wednesday resembled a surrealistic Halloween display. The shredded front end of a white sedan was wrapped against a tree in the yard next to the treatment plant. Remnants of a car seat were strewn down the hill to where a tangle of metal - all that was left of the car - lay scrunched under the trailer.

The truck, traveling toward Christiansburg veered over the center line, smashed the vacant car under its wheels, ran through the yard adjacent to the plant and hurtled down the hill to demolish one side of the treatment plant.

The driver, Jimmy Lee Inman of Winston-Salem, N.C., was uninjured. He was taken to Columbia Montgomery Regional Hospital and will likely stay overnight for observation, according to Deputy David Bolejack with the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office.

Inman, who was carrying vending machine food for VSA Carriers, told Bolejack he didn't remember any part of the accident.

The building was so badly damaged that by midafternoon a huge backhoe had already begun pulling down most of the structure's brick walls. Most of the pumping equipment also will have to be replaced because of water damage, Higgins said.

Rebuilding the plant will cost about $300,000 to $400,000 and take about six months, Higgins estimated. He said insurance for VSA Carriers will cover the costs.

Reliability will be the main casualty of the wreck, according to authority officials. The system will have no backup for its pumping system while the station is being rebuilt, Higgins said. The pump station had just been remodeled and its equipment replaced in 1989.

Lance Terpenny, town manager of Christiansburg, said the town's backup system is its large storage capacity, made up of several water tanks and at least one reservoir, which could provide adequate water in such emergencies.

"We're in good shape. We won't have any problems. We're not in any jeopardy," Terpenny said.

Higgins estimated the whole system has a day to day-and-a-half of storage reserves.

At the scene of the wreck, Reb Bauer said he was riding his moped on Peppers Ferry Road toward Christiansburg when a tractor-trailer tried to pass him.

The rig suddenly veered over to the left side, crossing the road and leaving a trail of havoc as it plowed into the pump station. For about 30 minutes, water shot as high as a nearby tree, forming a large stream that ran down to an open field.

Bauer said he heard the driver say he had high blood pressure.

"He said one minute he was taking a bite of a chicken sandwich, and the next water was hitting his face," Bauer said.

New River Valley bureau editor Elizabeth Obenshain contributed to this story.

LENGTH: Medium:   82 lines
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:  GENE DALTON/Staff. An hour after a tractor-trailer ran 
          into a water pump station on Peppers Ferry Road, an inspector begins
          to survey the damages caused by the accident Wednesday. The remains 
          of a car damaged in the accident rests against the tree in the 
          background. color.