Towering task improving system
An employee of Caldwell Tanks of Louisville, Kentucky, prepares to do spot welding on a section of the new Jersey County Rural Water Co. tank under construction. The 250,000-gallon elevated tank and tower is part of system improvements by the water district.
GODFREY — A new Jersey County Rural Water Co. tank is moving full-speed ahead.
An employee of Caldwell Tanks from Louisville, Kentucky, was spot-welding a section of a tank under construction last week in the 2600 block of Airport Road.
The 250,000-gallon elevated tank and tower is part of system improvements under way by the water district. The mushroom-shaped tower will cost just over $1.5 million and is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's rural development fund.
Water towers help maintain good water pressure for customers by elevating the water high above the connecting pipes, creating hydrostatic pressure, driven by the force of gravity, to push the water down and through the pipes of the local community.
The tower can then be refilled with pumps during non-peak electrical hours saving the water company money in operating its pumps. Weather permitting, the Airport Road tower should be completed by summer.
**Source: Written by John Badman, Hearst Illinois, My Journal Courier
