CORNWALL, Ontario – What is 150-feet tall, weighs well more than you can imagine and is in need of a facelift?
It’s the Cornwall water tower – and the facelift has already begun.
The monolithic tower that stands post near Highway 401 off of Tollgate Road has been completely drained of the one million gallons of water it can hold and is being refurbished at a cost of about $500,000.
The work includes safety upgrades inside the structure to ladders and kick plates, but the big change that the public will see includes a spiffy new paintjob, and updated logos for the exterior.
“Right now there are two logos on the outside, but when it’s done there will be three,” said Owen O’Keefe of the city’s infrastructure department.
The tank was drained of its capacity in the middle of September in preparation for repair work within the tank, not to mention the exterior improvements.
By the middle of November it is anticipated the tank will be back online, said O’Keefe.
In the meantime Cornwall residents are getting their water directly from the water treatment plant on Second Street West. O’Keefe said the plant can handle the extra work.
“There are no capacity issues,” he said.
Municipal officials scheduled the work for the autumn to avoid taxing the municipal system in the dog days of summer. Cornwall collects its water from the St. Lawrence River, upstream of the R.H. Saunders Generating Station.
