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Harrodsburg water tank leaking

August 23, 2005|ANN R. HARNEY

HARRODSBURG - The water tank at the end of Main Street has sprung a leak and needs fixing.

That is what the divers from Bulldog Diving Inc. will do: put on an emergency patch that city leaders hope will hold until a new water tower goes on line.

The hole in the tank is on the bottom, thereby quashing the idea that someone shot a hole in it, says Robert Norman, water treatment plant superintendent. "We're fairly certain it wasn't shot," he said. A shooter would have had to stand under the tank to place a shot where the leak is, Norman said.

The water comes out from the 750,000 gallon tank in a light spray.

The grass in the fenced-in area of the tank may be some of the greenest in Mercer County. It shows no sign of a drought. There is a puddle of water at the base of one of the tank's stanchions.

Members of the Harrodsburg City Commission chose Bulldog to repair the leak on Norman's recommendation. The company, based in Indiana and Louisiana, was not only the lowest bidder but was the only one of the three companies submitting bids to repair the hole without emptying the tank.

Bulldog's bid is $1,650 compared to Pittsburgh Tank's $5,500 bid and Mainstream Commercial Divers' bid of $2,984 plus materials and cleaning equipment. Both companies with higher bids require the tank to be emptied and off line. The apparent shortcoming of Bulldog's work is there is no long-term guarantee and long term could mean minutes, hours, days or weeks, Norman said.

Losing about a gallon a minute

He said the leak began about 10 days ago and may be losing water at the rate of a gallon a minute. Harrodsburg Mayor Lonnie Campbell said that really isn't a great deal of water and Norman agreed.

He said the water plant can pump 4,000 gallons a minute and at the rate of a gallon a minute, the tank loses 1,440 gallons a day, which amounts to about 20 seconds of pumping time.

The city has built a new 1 million-gallon water tank on the U.S. 127 bypass, but it is not ready to go on line. Norman said the projected date the city can use the tank is Aug. 29, but that date may be subject to change since it has been changed more than once.

However, once the new tank goes on line and is full, the Main Street tank can be emptied and a more permanent repair can be done. At that time, the older tank can be cleaned and painted inside and then refilled.

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