Out with the old

Keen to take up the offer of an old water tank that the Town of Pine Haven was in the process of replacing, the Sundance City Council directed city engineers Trihydro to gather some cost estimates. Unfortunately, reports Karla Greaser of Trihydro, using the second hand equipment for the project to replace a tank in the canyon area would actually cost more than purchasing a new one.

Greaser told the council that Trihydro had completed its evaluation of the cost to take down the welded tank, deconstruct it, transport it to Sundance, reconstruct it and sand blast it, as well as build the necessary foundations.

“We were able to get in touch with two different construction contractors who specialize in the work and would potentially do the work,” Greaser said.

The estimates from the two contractors were $390,000 and $500,000.

“By comparison, the cost estimate we had originally put together for a new tank was only $200,000,” she said. This, clearly, would make salvage and refurbish significantly more expensive than the cost of a new bolted tank.

Trihydro has therefore deemed the idea to be cost prohibitive, Greaser said, but she believes it was worth the effort to figure this out. Mayor Paul Brooks agreed, stating that it does at least answer the question of whether it would be cheaper just to bring in an old tank during replacement projects like this one.

Greaser added that Trihydro did ask the contractors if it would be any cheaper to reconstruct just a portion of the tank, but were told it wouldn’t really change the price. She explained that the high price could be connected to the fact that the tank is welded rather than bolted, which makes it more difficult to deconstruct.

After hearing the cost estimates, the council did not discuss pursuing the idea of inheriting the Pine Haven tank.