$1.25M TX Water Storage Plant Rehab Approved
At the end of last month, city officials in Katy, Texas, approved a $1.25 million rehabilitation project for existing water storage tanks at its water storage plant. The facility is located on Highway Boulevard in the city and includes a ground storage tank and an elevated storage tank.
About the Project
Approved on Oct. 24, work for the project will include replacing the floor of the ground storage tank, performing mechanical repairs, recoating the exterior and interior of the ground and elevated storage tanks, recoating the yard piping on two wells and a nearby fire hydrant, pressure-washing and overcoating the existing control building, in addition to other minor repairs.
The ground storage tank reportedly holds up to one million gallons of drink water, while the elevated storage tank can hold an additional 500,000 gallons.
According to reports, work is scheduled to begin by the end of November. The project will reportedly be paid for by the city’s enterprise reserves fund.
A contract totaling $1.1 million was awarded to N.G. Painting, with additional professional design and an engineering inspection priced at $118,680. A mural that will be painted on the elevated tank will also cost an estimated $63,800.
Katy officials approve $1.25M rehabilitation project at water storage plant https://t.co/QWRIJYD0Vg via @impactnews #txwater
— The Texas Water Infrastructure Network (TXWIN) (@TX_WIN) November 2, 2022
The facility is operated and maintained by the Katy Water Department. Community Impact reports that the drinking water in the city is obtained from underground aquifers through wells, which extract water through pipes to store inside tanks at water treatment facilities.
Katy contracts the West Harris County Regional Water Authority and the Bluebonnet Groundwater Conservation District for water pumped into nearby counties. Additionally, the water department maintains the city’s mains, valves, fire hydrants, water taps and meters, water wells and booster pump stations.
A separate project to lower the water well deeper into the ground is expected to begin the second week of November, but will be discussed at a future meeting, said City Attorney Arthur Pertile, III.
Other Recent Water Tower Work
Starting in September, the Forest Street Water Tower in Methuen, Massachusetts, will be out of service for the next seven month as it undergoes a $3.6 million renovation project. The water tower will see upgrades to ladder systems and entrances, a roof venting system and coatings work, among other repairs.
Water Department officials reportedly determined that the tower was “starting to show its age,” particularly when last year the annual Water Quality Report found that “the outside protective coatings are failing and the inside is also starting to break down.”
According to reports, the tower has been a Methuen landmark since it was constructed in the early 1970s and provides service to homes in the city’s West End. The structure stands at 100 feet tall and more than 80 feet wide, with a capacity of 3.8 million gallons.
Daryl Laurenza, Superintendent of Water Distribution, said that the structure will be brought up to meet or exceed 2022 OSHA safety standards. This includes upgrades to the ladder system, improved entrances ways, upgrading the tank’s roof-venting system and installing a new internal water-quality mixing system.
Additionally, a large “M” will be painted on the side of the tower, which will reportedly be visible to drivers entering the city on I-93 North.
The contractor for the project is Atlas Painting and Sheeting Corporation of Amherst, New York. The $3.6 million project is funded by the city’s Capital Improvement Plan for fiscal 2023.
The water tank is expected to be offline through the first week of May 2023. The project is under “strict timelines” due to the Forest Street Water Tank being a “very important part” of the water distribution system, particularly before summer when water usage almost doubles, Laurenza said.
Last month, work on a water tower painting project in Owensboro, Kentucky, was expected to soon be completed, including a new logo designed to celebrate the city’s bluegrass history. One of four water tanks located in Owensboro, the Frederica Street Tank holds 1,000,000 gallons of water. Overall, Owensboro Municipal Utilities (OMU) provides water to more than 100,000 residents and businesses in the city and surrounding area.
The tank had last been painted in 2004, with an inspection of the tank in 2016 and mechanical repairs made in 2019. It was reportedly last pressure washed in 2020.
In June, work began to clean and repaint the OMU water tower located off of Frederica Street. Work would include blasting the tank’s interior, as well as repainting the interior and exterior. “Decorative painting,” including new logos on the tank, were also planned for the project. At the time, the project was anticipated to cost roughly $900,000.
A new logo was approved by the Board of Commissioners in August. The design featured a banjo that serves as the first letter of Owensboro, with the tagline “Bluegrass Music Capital of the World” below the name of the city. The new logo will be painted on the south side, with the OMU logo on the other side.
That same month, OMU Director of Production Brad Howton said the wet interior and dry interior portions of the tower were completed and all that was left was the exterior’s blasting and prime coat application.
Additionally, OMU reported that the project was “significantly” under budget after they “drastically overestimated” how much it would cost. Howton also said the bidding process was more competitive than OMU officials anticipated. The contract had been awarded to Tank Pro Inc. Even with the new city logo, the newly anticipated cost fell at $389,825.
However, in September, it was revealed that the updated logo design had changed once again, featuring he word Owensboro, with a backwards treble clef serving as a capital “S” and with an 8-string headstock as the top of the “b.” The tagline remained the same.
