March 30, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Work on Garfield Ave. Water Tank Begins
DECATUR - Work has begun on a water project expected to save the city more than one-quarter of a million dollars over the next 13 years.
Rehabilitation work on the Garfield Avenue water tank is expected to continue through about June 1, work which consists of installing several safety upgrades and a complete recoating of the tank’s interior and exterior. Some Decatur water customers may notice a slight decrease in water pressure during the construction period; however, this will not impact the quality of the City’s drinking water.
The project is a major part of a long term water tank maintenance agreement approved by the Decatur City Council earlier this year. It is anticipated that the agreement will save the City at least $255,000 over the next 13 years in maintenance expenses.
This project is one of several water projects authorized recently designed to better protect our water supply while saving Decatur taxpayers a significant amount of money. Last year council authorized ADS LLC to perform a leak detection survey of our entire water distribution over the next three years. The first 1/3 of the survey has been completed for the downtown and west end areas of the city which revealed a total of 34 leaks throughout the city that were losing 785,000 gallons of water per day.
Twenty nine of the 34 leaks have been repaired and 775,000 gallons of the total leakage recovered will result in savings of $172,554 each and every year. The retail value of the water no longer leaking is $231,958.
For more information contact Randy Miller, Water Services Manager at 875-5704 or Keith Alexander, Director of Water Management, at 424-2863.