Crossville officials have awarded a contract for upgrades at three city water tank sites, with work expected to begin soon to improve system reliability and infrastructure.
Crossville Director of Water Resources Joe Kerley said the city is committing an estimated $324,000 for the improvements. Kerley said an estimated $301,000 is going towards rehabbing the pit at the Woodmere Tank located on North Main Street.
“The controls that operate the tank are in the ground, and the pit is falling in, falling apart, and all the plumbing, the pipe, and stuff in there is rusted, and the bolts are about to come apart,” Kerley said.
Kerley said the pit at the Woodmere Tank has deteriorated due to its old age. Kerley said he had been asking to repair the pit for the past five years and is glad to see the funding come through.
“It’s kind of a big deal,” Kerley said. “Because if that blows, that tank is a million gallons sitting on top of it, so it would have a million gallons coming out of that ground, I don’t know, a few minutes, 30 minutes.”
Kerley said the other two tanks that will receive improvements are the City Cemetery Tank and the Industrial Tank behind Buc-ee’s.
“We have altitude valves that control our tank levels, and they are all hydraulic pressures, so we are changing our electronic operators so we can operate them from our new SCADA that we got installed last year.”
Kerley said projects have not started yet as the contractor is waiting to have the materials for the improvements. Kerley said Woodmere Tank would take about a month to complete, while the other tanks could be completed in a day.