Stanton water tower has interior sandblasting on horizon
By LEE COLEMAN
Nearly seven months ago, an inspector told Stanton city maintenance supervisor Barry Schwartz that work needed to be done on the inside of the city water tower.
Seems the interior coating had begun peeling off and, if not taken care of, rust could begin to set in.
Schwartz, a native of Bowman and city supervisor for one year, reacted quickly and called in Midco Diving and Marine Services, of Colo., to check the inside of the tank to determine the state of repairs needed.
“I had Midco come in this summer and dive into the tank,” Schwartz said. “They went in to give us a good idea of what was happening in there. At this point, it is just a matter of it being something that has to be done.”
There is some ice in the tank from the winter, but Schwartz said the 200,000 gallon tank level was dropped down so it doesn’t freeze up. Although there is some freezing, Schwartz said the pumps are set to run more often to avoid a complete freeze-over.
“The coating on the inside of the tank has pretty much crumpled down,” Schwartz explained. “The water will have to be drained inside the tower and the inside sandblasted. In the process of doing that, we’ll turn the pumps on and use line pressure with the pumps so it doesn’t affect the water in the town.”
