Lake View Hill Water Tower Update

Thanks to Sue Gleason, President of Friends of Lake View Hill for this update on the water tower project:

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The city water utility held a meeting today with all involved contractors, County Human Services, County Parks, elected officials, and the Friends group to go over plans for the upcoming reservoir painting stage. Below are the highlights. 

THE SCHEDULE

• Construction will wrap up this week and painting will begin in mid-May.
• The painting will be done by a Wisconsin company that has done some painting in the area before.
• They expect to be take between 8 and 12 weeks as the painting is very weather dependent. The outside time-frame is 12 weeks and so to be completed by mid-August if not sooner.
• They will not be following a strict schedule of so many days on and off but instead will work as the weather allows. They will plan to be gone for 4 days over Memorial Day and July 4th.
• They will follow Madison construction guidelines of working 7 am to 7 pm Mon-Sat and 10am to 7 pm on Sunday.

THE PROCESS

• They will be doing some initial sandblasting to get rid of the rusty colored areas and seams before painting.
• The tower will be covered in a shroud so that no paint splatter, etc. will be flying away from the tower. 
• If winds exceed 15 mph or so, the shroud is ineffective and they will move to paint inside on this days.
• The painters will be hanging down the sides on scaffolds and not going up and down in "buckets" attached to beeping cranes!
• There will be two coats applied to the primer coat.

THE NOISE

• The noise will be much less than during construction as there will be no big equipment moving in and out once supplies are delivered.
• The sandblasting will likely be noisy but short lived.
• They will need to control humidity and so need to run dehumidifiers 24/7 with a generator for up to two weeks during the process.
• The generator will be located on the far west side of the reservoir and away from Esch Lane neighbors.
• Traffic and any deliveries will be up Lake View Ave as has been the case.

WHAT NEXT?

• The upper parking will be resurfaced and landscaping around the tower will be done later this fall as part of the final steps. This will be nice but will also impact the area during that period.
• The temporary tower will come down and cell antenna moved to the new tower. The city,county, and cell companies are in discussion about this.
• At some in the final months, the reservoir will be tested, disinfected and filled with water!
• On a fun and positive ending note, the water utility will be clearing out the little old white pump house and turning it over to the Friends of Lake View Hill for tools and supplies.

More news will be shared as we learn of it.  Ways to be sure to stay in the loop include:

For updates on the water tower - Sign up with the city to be on their Email list for updates at: https://www.cityofmadison.com/water/projects/lake-view-reservoir-reconstruction

Like us on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/Friends-of-Lake-View-Hill-Park-286044589781/  SEE PHOTOS FROM THE TOP AND INSIDE THE TOWER FROM TODAY!

Join the Friends Yahoo group at: FriendsofLakeViewHillPark-subscribe@yahoogroups.com