City Earns Grant to Accelerate Lift Station Generator Replacement

Published on May 19, 2026

The City is in the process of installing new generators at five of its lift stations. These new generators feature the latest technology in design and materials, making them more durable and efficient than the ones they are replacing. 

The City is proactive in maintaining and replacing generators at its lift stations because they are crucial to ensuring continuous operations. 

There are 96 lift stations in the City of Melbourne that are used to transport wastewater to our wastewater treatment plants. These lift stations must have electricity to operate. If there is a power outage, wastewater will stop moving toward the plants and can flow in the opposite direction — backing up into homes and businesses. 

To prevent this from happening, permanent generators have been installed at more than half of the City’s lift stations, and staff maintain a fleet of mobile generators for emergency use at the rest. 

In a typical year, the City budget allows the replacement of up to three lift station generators. This year, we were able to replace five thanks to a $220,098 grant from FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program.

After a Presidentially declared disaster, state, local, tribal and territorial governments are invited to apply for grants to develop hazard mitigation plans and fund a wide variety of hazard mitigation projects. 

The City applied for the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funding that became available after Hurricanes Ian and Nicole. In addition to the grant that has helped the City purchase the five lift station generators, we have also been awarded funding for two new generators for wells at the Joe Mullins reverse osmosis water production facility. Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funds will also be used to replace the generators at all eight of Melbourne’s fire stations.