A second contract valued at $50,968 was awarded to Michigan-based, Dixon Engineering, Inc. to oversee the project from an environmental standpoint.
The rehab on the tower, built in 1985, begins July 6 and should be done by late October.
“The plan is that no one will notice that the tank is offline,” said Stephanie Smith, communications and training manager for Montgomery County Water Services, adding that if the region should experience a drought while the water storage unit is offline, residents could experience reduced water pressure.
The tower holds about 2 million gallons of water, which will be pumped into other parts of the county’s water system before the project begins.
The work will be funded through the Water Services’ capital budget for infrastructure.
Smith said rehabbing water towers is expensive, because of a limited number of companies that do the work.
Paint with special, coating properties also adds to the expense. Montgomery County owns 14 water towers. This rehab marks the fifth since 2005.
The life expectancy of a water tower is about 100 years, if properly maintained, Smith said. New water towers cost about $4 million.
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