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The Tendon-Prestressed Concrete Water Tank sits to to the south of the conservation pond in Lebanon and is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
A construction worker checks the top edge of the water storage tank prior to the aluminum geodesic dome beng constructed on top.
The Tendon-Prestressed Concrete Water Tank sits to to the south of the conservation pond in Lebanon and is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
A construction worker checks the top edge of the water storage tank prior to the aluminum geodesic dome beng constructed on top.
Lebanon is no stranger to construction.
From new housing developments around town to renovations and new buildings popping up all over the city, Lebanon is in a phase of growth. But with that growth comes stress put on local utilities.
At the south end of Abner Longley Park, a large circular structure is being constructed, and when completed, it will hold enough water to fill almost 48,000 bath tubs.
Its official name is a Tendon-Prestressed Concrete Water Tank. Its main purpose will be to add redundancy to the city's water supply, Lebanon Utilities Operation Manager Ryan Ottinger said.
When completed, Ottinger said it will be able to hold up to 2 million gallons of water per day, while the city's current water storage facilities can hold 750,000 gallons per day.
"In the event of a water tower having an issue or a large fire, it ensures we have plenty of storage to fight the fire," Ottinger said. "If we have an issue at a plant where one of our water plants has to be taken offline, this gives us more redundancy while also taking into consideration the possibility of future growth."
The new water storage facility has been in the works for over a year, Ottinger added.
Ottinger said a booster station is also being built that will help control the water pressure.
"It's not an elevated storage tank like a water tower that uses gravity and the height of the tower to help the pressure come into your house," Ottinger said. "Without being able to use gravity, we'll have a pressure booster so we can control the pressure. It's like a garden hose. If you hook 10 garden hoses together, you're not going to have near as much water as if you just had one."
He added that the booster will give residents the same water pressure whether they live nextdoor to the tank or across town.
Ottinger added that this type of water storage facility does the same job as a tall water tower, just without the eyesore.
"When you're in a city, aesthetically, it's different than a water tower," Ottinger said. "Your footprint doesn't have to be quite as large."
The maximum cost for the project is $6.7 million but it could be less, Ottinger added. Bowen Engineering, the company in charge of the project, set up its contract with the city so that the cost of the project the city is responsible for is all it has to pay.
If anything on the project unexpectedly appears, like a repair, Lebanon Utilities would not be responsible for that cost, Ottinger said. If the project is less than the maximum cost, those savings are returned to the utilities.
"This is probably the most significant water project we've had in well over a decade," Ottinger said. "We went from about six hours of water storage as far as our daily usage, to well over 24 hours. If we ever have an emergency, or a large fire, that redundancy is going to help us get through all of that."
The next phase in the construction process is the large dome that will cover the top of the tower. That dome is constructed with more than 100,000 individual pieces.
"It's like a massive LEGO set," he said. "Engineering wise, they do that so you can maintain the structure in shipping and during installation."
The facility is expected to be completed and running by the end of the year, Ottinger said.
"It's cool to be able to have my name associated with this," Ottinger said. "I started in the water department in 1999 and the day I started, I asked the guys what we need more than anything and they all said storage. This has been discussed for decades now and it'll be great to see this come to fruition and have that redundancy."
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