GOLDSTON — Construction on a new water tower is under way in Goldston, with officials and engineers hoping to improve water pressure and availability for the area.
Located between the Goldston Fire Department and Goldston Recreational Park, the tower is part of a new project paid for by a loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture coupled with a new booster pump station, according to Eddie Staley, an engineer with WithersRavenel. It will replace an existing water tank originally built in the 1960s.
“It had reached its useful life and had to be replaced,” Staley said. “We were able to find an elevated tank that had been taken out of service. We’re re-conditioning and re-servicing a tank that was originally located in another town. It saves a good bit of money.”
Staley added that the loan will likely have 25-28 percent forgiveness.
Goldston currently purchases all its water from the City of Sanford that’s pushed to the town through a booster pump station at the town’s old water treatment plant. By relocating everything to this higher point in the town, Staley said, it will “better regulate the water pressures in the system.”
Goldston Mayor Tim Cunnup told the News + Record that the tower is “not coming too soon.”
“We’re ready for it,” he said. “We need to go ahead and make this addition. For us to be able to find the funds for us to put a new water tank in place, especially the size of our community, is very awesome.”
Staley said the tank will also provide additional water capacity to the town, which could serve the area for further purposes like regionalization. In the case of a drought or a water break, that increased volume, along with potential line extensions to the outskirts of Siler City and other rural areas, could serve more people.
Site work has already begun on the patch of ground where the tank will stand around 120 feet tall, with construction expected to be complete by the end of the year.
“I know they have worked really hard on putting this thing together,” Cunnup said. “We’re excited because it’s going to be a great benefit to everybody.”