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A tall order for
the Village of
Caledonia … The Village of Caledonia has quite a tall order to fill this summer in the water department. It’s certainly not a job for anyone who dislikes heights and for sure there aren’t a lot of companies fighting for the bid. The 80 foot tall water tower on Gas Light Lane (off of Graney Road) is scheduled to have the interior repainted sometime this summer. The project is estimated to cost the village $75,000. Constructed in 1978, the 250,000 gallon capacity standpipe tower will have to be drained, said Caledonia DPW head Chris Buckley, to allow the job to be completed. A complicated system determines the level of the water inside the tank. As customers consume water and the level inside the tank lowers, the system notifies the pump station to begin pumping water toward the tower. The water travels through the main underground pipe on Leicester Street, across a cornfield and into the tower. Buckley says it will be tricky, but they turn off the notification system between the tower and the pump station and allow customers to consume most of the water inside the tank. The remaining water will be drained. How is it determined that a water tower needs repainting? The Livingston County Environmental Health Department regulations require that water towers be inspected every five to seven years to assess their condition and to identify any repairs that are needed. Companies specializing in this type of inspection use either submerged robots to record pictures of the interior of the tank or scuba divers who enter the tank to document its condition. Highly trained workers who specialize in water tower maintenance use specialized paints designed to withstand the aggressive interior conditions of a water tank. Workers must observe strict OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) procedures throughout the process. The county health department issues its approval when the job is complete and ready to be put back in use for customers, said a county health department official. Buckley says the Village of Caledonia municipal water system requires daily maintenance by his five-man crew. Buckley and Robert Frew both have the required licenses to maintain the systems inside the water treatment plant. The remaining crewmembers are licensed to perform maintenance to areas of the system outside of the plant, such as hydrant and valve work. The village has two storage towers, the Graney Road tower and the original one on Main Street in the village. The 125 foot tall tower built in 1926 has a 125,000-gallon storage capacity. Two village wells pump approximately 230,000 gallons of water every day to 2,327 customers. Buckley says the water supply is more than adequate for the demand and is continually monitored and tested for purity and safety. The DPW is now in the process of performing routine flushing of hydrants and two hydrants are slated to be replaced this summer. That work is estimated to cost about $2,000 per hydrant. From the maintenance of hydrants on the ground to the maintenance of the water tower 80 feet in the sky, the Village of Caledonia DPW will be busy this summer.
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