Tekoa, Farmington receive state funds for water projects

Tekoa was recently awarded close to $1 million from the state to repair a collapsed city well and the roof of the city water tower. Farmington will also receive $113,000 from the state for repairs to a city well.

Inspection crews discovered two years ago the Tekoa city water tank roof was badly deteriorating along with the tank’s exterior concrete walls. The city tank is more than 40 years old and holds 450,000 gallons.

“It’s near the point it could collapse on itself,” said Matt Morkert, group leader and engineer with Century West for the project.

The state Department of Commerce awarded $993,000 to Tekoa and $113,000 to Farmington in Community Development Block Grants (CDBG), general purpose grants for 2010.

The two Whitman County projects are among 18 others in cities and counties around the state selected for more than $14 million in state CDBG funds this year.

Tekoa City Clerk Kynda Browning said when the city initially learned of the ailing roof of the water tower, they considered buying an entire new structure.

“At first we were going to apply to have a whole new tank. But it was millions of dollars. It would be more cost effective for the city to just rehabilitate the one we have,” Browning said.

Instead, the Tekoa council opted to go ahead with simply restructuring the tank. Morkert said they will replace the aging roof with a new one. They will also place a new layer of reinforced concrete on the exterior of the reservoir.

“They’ll pour a new wall on the outside with some structural rebar,” Morkert said.

Tekoa has a population of roughly 820 people.

One of the three Tekoa wells failed last year when a layer of soil in the well shaft crumbled and fell on the pump located deep at the bottom of the well. The 10-inch diameter shaft of the well is built down through rock and soil.

“It collapsed in on top of the pump so it couldn’t pump anymore,” Morkert said.

Tekoa has been using the two other wells since that time.

The failed well could pump up to 300 gallons per minute, and the two other wells pump up to 685 gallons per minute.

Morkert said the funding is set to be disbursed in July, at which time Tekoa will put the first phase of the construction out to bid.

The first phase will have construction crews drilling the well. Once they determine the capacity of that well, engineers will decide on the rest of the measurements for the roof of the water tank and the well house.

That phase of the project will be put out to bid in August or September, Morkert said.

Breakdown of Tekoa’s $993,000 is $859,000 in construction costs, and $171,000 in engineering, construction management, and administration costs.

Farmington is using their $113,000 to reconstruct one of their two city wells to meet the current state department of health (DOH) guidelines.

Their defunct well hasn’t been in use for several years, largely because it no longer met the DOH requirements.

The DOH requires a specific stretch of time between the moment a well injects drinking water with chlorine and the moment that water reaches its first destination for use.

The Farmington well water was reaching its first destination too early, a problem the hired engineer said they will fix by widening the well shaft.

“That contact time is too short as of right now,” said Steve Marsh, regional manager with Thomas Dean and Hoskins Inc., a civil and structural engineering company.

Farmington is set to receive its funds and put the project out to bid this summer.