Seward’s new 500,000-gallon steel water tower is in place, and workers will soon give it a good coat of protective “technical” paint inside and out.
It will likely look lighter than it does now, but boring and bland? Don’t get used to it.
The Seward City Council recently approved a draft design by local artist Seth Boggs to be painted on the tower, reflecting the community’s 4th of July spirit with colors to attract traveler’s attention. It will also incorporate the city’s new logo.
City Administrator Greg Butcher said the details of Bogg’s design will be modified only slightly to facilitate painting on a water tower surface.
Weather permitting, painting may start within a month or so.
While the painting is done above ground, construction continues on the ground and deeper, where the “civil” construction work of improving and connecting water mains and sewer mains in the area continues.
The Eighth and Jackson streets intersection will be closed for another month as work continues and new concrete is allowed to cure.
Butcher said the difference in height between the old and new towers is not as dramatic as it first seems. The water level in the old tower is actually lower than what it will be in the new one.
That’s important because it impacts water pressure.
The city will work to align the water level in the new tower with Seward’s north water tower because that helps keep the water pressure at similar levels all over town.
The old water tower will likely be taken down in the spring, and the city is planning how to best use the freed-up space. As part of the preparation and planning for the new tower’s installation, the city acquired and removed houses on three nearby residential lots.
The city is considering how it can best utilize the 15,650 square feet – a little more than a third of an acre – with the existing city street department’s facility there. The city has used 4,135 square feet under the old tower, but moving vehicles and heavy equipment around the tower’s base was sometimes challenging.
Butcher anticipates some city and public parking will be added under the new water tower area, as well as the existing street department facilities.
“At some point in time, we will have to come up with some strategic plan to see if we want to plan a new street department facility closer to the highway and not in the middle of downtown,” Butcher said.
“But that’s a future council decision.”
