Local residents wouldn’t have noticed it by turning on their taps, but the Chatham and area water system underwent a $2.1-million overhaul – specifically to the Chatham water tower.
Staff from the Public Utilities Commission unveiled the exterior of the tower at a press conference Thursday. Part of the improvements included a paint job inside and out. The exterior is now a bright white and green, with “Chatham” splashed across the tower in large letters.
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Mayor Randy Hope said it is part of a branding process for the municipality.
“No matter where you go in our 2,400 square kilometres, it allows you to identify the community you are in.”
Other towers in the municipality will eventually receive such branding paint schemes.
Hope said the branding also tells people Chatham-Kent takes its water quality seriously.
“Quality of water is never a waste of money,” he said, adding a stable, safe water supply is important to attract new residents and even industry. “The chemical industry is one where water is an important ingredient.”
Michael Burton, director of economic development who was on hand for the unveiling, said the municipality is still working to bring a fertilizer processing plant to the municipality.
In May, the municipality said it was looking for a company to help develop a marketing assessment for a natural gas-based chemical processing facility.
The one-million-gallon Chatham water tower helps maintain water pressure and provides water storage for users in Chatham, Mitchell’s Bay, Pain Court, Eberts, Dresden and Thamesville.
Tim Sunderland, area manager for the PUC, said the renovations to the tower included sandblasting the tank inside and out and making numerous safety upgrades, including the installation of a dynamic mixing system inside the tank that improves water circulation and chlorine residuals in the tower and helps prevent ice build up in the winter.
Stew Bechard, a maintenance mechanic with the PUC, said for the past four months as the water tower underwent renovations, water pressure was maintained through the support of the Pain Court water tower back feeding into the Chatham system as needed, and through regulation by the Chatham pumping station off Grand Avenue East.
Sunderland said four months of pre-planning took place, including several test runs to examine the impact on the water supply system.
The tower is still empty, and will be until mid-August, Kissner said. He anticipates the disinfection of the interior of the tower to take place in the coming days, with the tower being filled the week of Aug. 18.
What about the old water lines that still make up much of our cities water system. Maybe this 2.1 million dollars could have been better spent fixing the infrastructure. Could a good paint job in and out of the tower not have been sufficient? Pretty water tower, however ???????