Residents of the town of Chenango, N.Y., may not realize it, but their 50-ft-by-19-ft potable water system underwent a nearly 50% capacity expansion in four days.
The Chenango Aquastore tank held 276,000 gal of potable water at the time of its construction in 1985. As the Chenango population began to increase over the ensuing decades, having enough drinking water to service the town became a concern. In the fall of 2005, Statewide Aquastore Inc., the authorized Aquastore dealer that constructed the tank, was commissioned to expand the tank to 28 ft high, finishing with a new capacity of 423,000 gal.
According to sales manager for Statewide Aquastore, Cindy Lusk, the Chenango tank was built with plans to expand the tank in the future.
“The Chenango tank was built with a sufficient concrete and rebar foundation to support the extra load of capacity,” Lusk said. “Some projects are designed with the thought that they will never have to expand…More and more people are now making sure they have that ability.”
In four days, the Statewide team, in connection with engineering firm Keystone Associates, was able to empty the tank, apply two additional glass-fused-to-steel rings to the bottom layer of the tank and put the tank back in service in less than a week.
In her experience, Lusk said it can take between six to nine weeks to expand a welded steel installation and require a lot more manpower and equipment than it would take to expand a bolted tank. Concrete tanks, Lusk said, cannot be expanded.
Statewide uses a jacking system to raise the tank from the ground level to complete the expansion, a process that is unique to certain bolted tanks. “The jacking system is the safest type of tank construction because the workers do not have to get off the ground,” Lusk said. “They are not elevating the tank from the top up, but from the bottom up. With the jacking system, you don’t have to bring large cranes on the site, and there isn’t any heavy equipment needed to lift the tank.”
According to Lusk, this was the first time the Chenango tank had ever been taken out of operation over its more than 20 years of service.
“When we construct a tank, we stand by the tank for its entire lifecycle and we try to stay in touch with the owner,” Lusk said. “Our customers can count on us to be there and do what needs to be done. We never just build a tank, walk off the site and say, ‘That’s the end of it.’ In that sense, the expansion capability we offer is indicative to how committed we are to our products and our owners.”
With a combination of careful planning and efficient construction technology, Engineered Storage Products said Chenango’s water needs have been satisfied with minimal inconvenience to the town’s population.
Source: Engineered Storage Products Co.
