PEQUANNOCK

Pequannock's new water tower has $2.4M price tag

Matt Fagan
NorthJersey

PEQUANNOCK — The township's new water tower comes with a price tag of $2.4 million, according to township figures.

The location of a new water tank for Pequannock Township is to be near the entrance to Mountainside Park. Work may be completed by next summer.

Township officials voted to replace rather than repair the existing water tank at Greenview Park. The new tower, which will hold a million gallons of water, is slated to be completed by the end of next summer and be located at Mountainside Park on Mountain Avenue.

The lowest bid submitted for the work was by DN Tanks of Wakefield, Mass., for a total of $2.4 million, said township officials.

Township Manager Dave Hollberg, said the bid can't be accepted until the Department of Environmental Protection completes a review.

"The DEP review is supposed to occur within 90 days and we submitted it to them in early March," Hollberg said.ithin the next week or so, Hollberg said.

The cost of the new tank will be borne by Pequannock's water users. Hollberg said built into the water fees are provisions for capital improvements. 

"At some point you got to decide to spend a lot of money repairing it or replacing it, " Hollberg said. 

He said replacing made most sense because the way it works now is that the pumping of water to current tank is almost non stop. With the tank at the proposed new location, which is higher than anywhere in the township other than Cedar Crest Retirement community,  should do away with a lot of the pumping. 

An accompanying project will go to bid in the next few months for work to connect a new water main that will run from the elevated tank to the existing water mains on West Parkway. This project won't seek bids until the state reviews the project, the manager said. 

How does a water tower work?

  • According to How Stuff Works, a water tower is very simple. The tank is elevated by the tower to provide pressure. Each foot of height provides 0.43 pounds per square inch of pressure. The average municipal tower supplies between 50 and 100 PSI.
  • The tower must be tall enough to supply that level of pressure to all structures in the area. In hilly areas, a water tank can be placed on the highest hill without a tower and it works. A water tank typically holds about 1 million gallons of water, about 50 times that of an average swimming pool. 
  • The water towers typically hold a full day's supply of water for the municipality. A pump keeps the tank full at all times so there are no peak time shortages. 
  • The water comes from its source, is treated in a water treatment plant then a high-lift pump pressurizes the water and sends it to the water system's primary feeder pipes. The water tower is attached to the primary feeders.
  • If the pump is producing more water than the water system needs, the excess flows automatically into the tank. If the community is demanding more water than the pump can supply, then water flows out of the tank to meet the need.