DAPHNE — Growth is one word that describes the current situation in Spanish Fort.

The construction of the Cypress Equities development that will be home to the new Bass Pro Shops and other retail outlets is continuing.

The annexation of the I-10 Commerce Park and the planned widening of the Highway 31 corridor by the Alabama Department of Transportation has taken shape.

More evidence of the city’s continuing growth is visible on Highway 31 near the Spanish Fort ball fields.

There is construction on two electrical substations being built by Riviera Utilities to replace a smaller facility located adjacent to the construction site.

“The one on the west side is a new 115,000-volt delivery point and switching station,” said Don Boone, electric department superintendent for Riviera Utilities. “The one on the east is a new distribution substation that steps the voltage down from 115kV to 13.2kV.

That construction project has one Spanish Fort resident, Robert Wilson of Westminster Village, worried about the possible health effects from an electromagnetic field, which is associated with most kinds of electrical devices.

This topic (EMF) has been the subject of a number of studies over the past several years attempting to link the fields with health problems of individuals working or living near electrical systems. Although there is concern, the evidence of such a link is difficult to find.

A 2002 report by the U.S. National Institutes of Health said, “The overall scientific evidence for human risk from exposure to power-frequency fields is weak. …

“However, epidemiological studies had shown a fairly consistent pattern that associated potential exposure to power-frequency fields with a small increased risk of leukemia in children and chronic lymphocytic leukemia in adults.”

“Interpretation of the epidemiological findings has been difficult due to the absence of supporting laboratory evidence or a scientific explanation linking exposure to power-frequency fields with leukemia,” the report states.

The Medical School of Wisconsin supports the same findings.

“There have been literally hundreds of studies on the subject, all inconclusive as to whether the effects of EMF were harmful or not,” Boone said. “If you are concerned and want to mitigate the effects of EMF, whatever they may be, you should not sleep under an electric blanket, move your electric alarm clock as far away from your bed as possible, avoid standing or sitting near electrical appliances.”

Riviera officials said the utility is continuing “to make significant upgrades and improvements to its infrastructure” to keep up with the growth of demand on the Eastern Shore.

“The load growth along the entire Eastern Shore area has been extraordinary in the last 10 years, running about 6 percent per year,” said Boone. “The Spanish Fort upgrade has been planned for many years and when it is completed in late summer or early fall it will provide capacity for existing customers as well as for future load growth, including the new Bass Pro project.

“The facility will also provide an alternate feed to several other substations, which will improve the reliability for customers.”

“We have a number of short-range, mid-range and long range plans along the Eastern Shore that will improve reliability and hopefully, provide the necessary capacity for new customers as they come into our area,” Boone said.

The Spanish Fort project is a continuation of a plan that Riviera began in 1975 to convert the Eastern Shore Transmission System from 44kV to 115kV.

The upgrade will allow the utility to transmit approximately two times the amount of power on the same size wire.

Riviera plans to have the 115kV conversion completed in the fall of 2008.