BOONE, Iowa—Boone City Engineer and Utility Superintendent Dan Scott has put moving ahead with a number of necessary projects facing the Utility Department. The next will be the Clinton Street Water Tower which will be cleaned and re-painted beginning next month. The last time it was painted was 18 years ago. Originally built in 1972, the 750,000 gallon tower has historically been painted every 15 years. Minor repairs will also be completed making the tower ready for additional future service life to the community.
Bid documents were prepared in May and bids were accepted for painting and minor repairs in June. Utility Service Company from Perry, Georgia was the winner at $458,100 for this work.
Work will begin in August and will be completed by October. Although the tower will be drained, there will be no disruption in service to the City. The other two towers and water plant will provide continued service during the project. After completion of this work, the tower will again serve an important water storage role for the City as the largest tower.
Work crews will begin arranging equipment and setting up the last week of July. Pressure washing of the tower will begin the week of August 6. There will be some minor overspray from this operation, but it is just water spray.
Boone City Administrator Bill Skare on the KWBG News/Public Affairs program said Wednesday that both the inside and outside of the entire tower will cleaned and painted. Because this is a large tower with many intricate supports to clean and paint, work will occur every day of the week including weekends from 7 am to 7 pm. This is a large labor intensive project to complete before winter.
Special fast drying paint has been required for this project to address paint over spray concerns from previous tower painting projects. The paint will dry as it is applied so there is no overspray or drift. The contractor will also only be rolling on or brushing paint for this project. There will not be any paint spayed on the tower for this project. The only spraying that will occur is from the pressure washing.
All emergency communication equipment will remain in place on the tower and remain in service during the work. There will be no disruptions to the antennas.
Proper maintenance and operation o f the water plant and distribution system is a high priority and we will continue to monitor them to ensure safe and continuous water service in the future.
(contributed news article, Boone Utility Department)
