Knox Board of Works Approves Proposal to Have Water Towers Cleaned and Inspected

Photo Source: Northwest Indiana Photos

The two elevated water towers in the City of Knox will be cleaned and inspected, following a decision made by Board of Works members Wednesday morning.

Water Department Representative Tim Vogelzang submitted a proposal to the members that called for the cleaning of the water tower located off of East Street and the one that’s in the Industrial Park. Vogelzang said this procedure is recommended every three years, and the towers are going on 5-years without it.

The company that would provide the service is Liquid Engineering and Vogelzang said they performed this task in the past. He added that one of the advantages of using Liquid Engineering is that since they’ve had employees in the tanks before, they’ll be more aware of what to look for.

He explained, “We used them back in 2013 and they do give us a digital a CD of when the guys scuba down in there and we get video of the interior of both tanks and then they give us a written report of their findings.”

Vogelzang added that one of the advantages of using Liquid Engineering is that they’ve had employees in the tanks before, so they’ll be more aware of what to look for.

For the procedure to be performed at both towers, the company would charge a total of $4,480. Board Member Steve Dodge asked if that was a reasonable price for the service and Vogelzang replied that it is.

He mentioned that a company based out of Ohio also approached him about doing the work. However, he didn’t want to utilize them since they proposed charging $3,000 more per tank and they have a remote control camera record the interior rather than scuba-divers.

The members took a vote and approved the proposal without any opposition. Vogelzang said if it is possible, he would like to have crews come in before the end of this year.