Tekoa water system to see busy spring

Four major water projects will get underway for the city of Tekoa this spring and summer.

Projects include a new city well, a new roof for the town’s water reservoir, a new water line dug from the reservoir into town and a city-wide replacement of most main water lines.

Tekoa Public Works Director Duane Groom said the city has been experiencing water line failures on its aging water-line system.

“Most of the water system was put in in the 40s,” said Groom.

Across from the city hall building, a new well 300 feet deep is being drilled to replace the old city well.

“That was drilled in 1917 as far as we know,” said Groom. The new well will join the city’s two other wells.

Century West is the engineer for the city water projects.

The reservoir project was initially considered as a project to replace the entire reservoir, but the cost was considered too prohibitive. The job now calls for crews to remove the old roof and replace it with a new one. They will also pour a new layer of reinforced concrete on the exterior of the reservoir. A new water line will be dug from the reservoir into town. The reservoir is located on the north side of town at the base of Tekoa Mountain.

The city is putting the reservoir roof and the water line to the reservoir out to bid as a single project. Groom said they hope to begin construction on these by June.

For the new well, the reservoir roof and the line to the reservoir, the state Department of Commerce awarded $993,000 to Tekoa in a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), a general purpose grant for 2010.

The city-wide replacement of most main water lines will begin this summer on the north and west sides of town. Crews will replace main water lines and trunk water lines.

In the summer of 2012, crews will begin work on the east side of town.

The water line replacement project was funded through a $2.9 million loan and $1.2 million grant from a federal Rural Development Grant. Resident water bills will increase in stages, with an extra $17 added to bills by 2013. Mayor John Jaegar explained the loan will be paid back over 40 years at three percent interest by increased proceeds from the water billings.