A 1.5 million-gallon water “bowl” will be hoisted atop a 44-foot pedestal Wednesday in a spectacular highlight of a major city water system improvement on Boll Weevil Circle.
Once in place and sealed on the top and bottom, the gigantic tank, measuring roughly 45 x 81 feet, will be filled with 1.5 million gallons of water that will help Enterprise Water Works serve about 50,000 customers.
The hoisting of the tank marks the near completion of water well, pump and tank replacement at the well site on Boll Weevil Circle next to the Dauphin Shopping Center. Well drilling started in December 2020, with the new 1,000-foot well and a 1,000 gallons per minute pump, housed in a newly built the tank construction, going online Oct. 29, 2021.
The tank construction began in January 2021.
The process of hoisting the tank will take approximately four to six hours, said Alan Mahan, Enterprise Water Department Field Superintendent. He expects the tank will be filled with water and will go online in late June or early July.
“This is not something you see every day,” he said. “The process can be viewed from a distance but it will be very slow.”
The hoisting process is not expected to cause any traffic disruption in the area.
Shortly after the new tank goes into operation, the existing 54-year-old tank will be torn down.
Mahan has said the project is somewhat a bittersweet development. The new well, which increases pumping capacity from 650 gpm and the new tank increases storage capacity from 500,000 gallons.
Mahan said the upgrade of the well and tank was necessary because of residential and commercial demand for water has tripled in recent years on the northeast side of the city. Because all water wells are connected in the system, the new tank will have a positive impact on the entire water system, he said.
Mahan said as a longtime field superintendent, he will be sad to see the older water tower taken down. “It is truly a historic structure,” he said. It was drilled in 1968 and was the first city wellwell site and tank
Expected date to have water in the new tank is June or early July.
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