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Mini Water Tower |
Many designs were discussed before opting for a four legged double ellipsoidal tank or as close to that as we could mange. We used our Filter Bank Wash tank at the City of Hamilton's South Water Plant as our model.
Mark Brandenburger, the City Manager, Charles Young, the City of Hamilton Deputy Director of Operations/Assistant City Manager and Jim Collins the Director of Gas water were very impressed and felt that this would be an excellent way to promote tap water. They also agreed that it would be a great way to provide public education.
The design was to have a connection to a potable water tap using food and beverage grade hoses attached to a back flow prevented and pressure reducing valve. The hose would hook up to the tank at the bottom of the riser where the water would go through a length of copper pipe and then through several hundred feet of copper tubing. Each leg would have a spigot to dispense chilled tap water.
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My name is Greg Petredis. I am the water Production Superintendent for the city of Hamilton, Ohio. Tim McLelland, the Hamilton to New Baltimore Ground Water Manager, had been pursuing and repeatedly badgering me for several months with the idea of fabricating a portable, chilled tap water dispenser to be used at various civic and educational events. Another local water purveyor had constructed a box style chilled tap water dispenser and Tim McLelland wanted something similar. In a weak moment, I finally succumbed and agreed to have our maintenance Department construct such a dispenser. However, I did agree to this only if it were going to be done right...to look like an elevated tank.
I called for a meeting with Tim McLelland, John Bui, my Assistant Superintendent and the City of Hamilton Water Production Maintenance Staff. After presenting the project to the group and giving them some ideas, the job was assigned to two of our best welder/fabricators: Sam Peters, who performs the welding and fabricating at our Water Production sites and our North Plant operator Merle Downie.
We had to convince upper management that it was an important cause, and that by promoting tap water we could help to decrease the amount of landfill waste created by using bottled water. We also mentioned how much energy can be saved by not producing and transporting the bottles of water.
With a small budget approved, we went about collecting supplies and were able to acquire many items at a reduced cost. The steel was provided by Tri-Mac Manufacturing at cost. he paint was supplied by TNEMEC/ Ohio Coating Consultants.
Before an event, the unit is transported in the bed of our crane truck and hoisted off the truck into position. EAch leg has a leveler built into it. The tank is leveled and hooked up after careful disinfections. Ice is loaded into the tank bowl via the hatch on top of the tank onto the coils of copper tubing keeping the passing water chilled. After event, a valve in the upper portion of the riser is opened allowing the melting ice to drain through an inch and half PVC drain pipe. The spigots and connections are cleaned and capped and the unit is stored until the next event.
Thus far, the tank has been successfully used at several festivals, and has been huge hit with all of the people in attendance. Chilled tap water was served in bio-degradable cups to over 500 people. We are looking forward to using the chilled tap water dispenser at many upcoming events and hope to see you at our tank, enjoying some of Hamilton's finest chilled water.
