An error was recently pointed out about the City of Stuart’s new water tower.

In the recent Utility Board meeting, the topic of the water tower was discussed, with Jeff Godwin and Dave Sturm from Snyder and Associates making the presentation. Godwin told the Board that it had been discovered that some numbers were wrong when the tower was designed, and it is now eight feet too tall to work in conjunction with the old water tower, with both at capacity. The new tower can only be filled to a little under half capacity before water starts to push back into the line, and overflow the old water tower.

Godwin presented four current options to the Board, including allowing the two towers to function as is, with the old tower at full capacity, and the new one at just under half capacity, which would put roughly 264 thousand gallons of water in the system. The other options include only using the new tower, which has a capacity of 250 thousand gallons by itself, installing an altitude valve in a pit at the base of the old tower, and to divide the town into separate pressure zones.

Using the altitude valve would allow both towers to be used at nearly full capacity for both, as would separating the town into separate pressure zones. Multiple pressure zones can be made by installing control valves on the only two lines connecting the north and south side of the town, with the railroad tracks as the dividing line. This would allow the old tower to serve the north side of town, while the new tower serves the south side of town, and keep them from interfering with each other, but also allow them to work together, should the need arise. The downside of splitting into two separate pressure zones is that there would be more equipment and more maintenance needed.

Godwin says that originally the bottoms of the two towers, along with the overflows, were supposed to line up, but that a wrong number was input in the spreadsheet for the plans, and that caused the height difference. The Board tabled making a decision, for both parties to gather more information, and return to discussion at the next Utility Board meeting.