Pineville Gets New Water Tower

The city of Pineville’s new water tower recently went into service. Public works supervisor Chris Tinsley explains the process of

constructing it.

The city of Pineville’s new water tower recently went into service. Public works supervisor Chris Tinsley explained the process of constructing it.

The old water tower was built next to Pineville Primary School when the school was built so the school would have water, Tinsley said.

Unfortunately, “They didn’t build it tall enough, and they didn’t have enough pressure when it was all said and done,” he said. “We had housing going in across the street, and they had even worse water pressure than the school. So, we just put in a bigger tower. Over the long term, it’s more costeffective than to put in booster pumps.”

He said the city started engineering on the tower in early 2017.

Tinsley said the city council approved the idea to build the tower instead of going with booster pumps, which are expensive to maintain and have to be replaced periodically, he said. Then the city had to hire an engineer, submit plans and raise the height of the tower twice. They got approval from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and put the project out to bid. The contract price was $452,000, he said.

The city did all the dirt work itself and the concrete foundation — everything except the actual construction of the tower. Great Plains Structures built the tower.

The tower holds 416,000 gallons. The water height is 140 feet. The actual structure is 150 or 155, Tinsley said.

“They claim it’s the tallest tower they’ve ever built,” he said. “We put it in service on June 18. We still have to get the fence built around it. There will still be some work being done there for a little while.

Tinsley also noted, “It is to give that area better pressure around the school, but water from the tank will go to the whole town.”

Pineville mayor Gregg Sweeten said of the water tower project, “It was something we had to do because we have the school and we have new homes going in. We were legal, but we were just on the verge of capacity. This will take care of those issues and provide for future growth out in that area. It’s an additional 415,000 gallons of storage that we have on hand. Between the pressure issues that were there and future growth, we just want to be ready for anything that might come our way.”

He also added the improved pressure makes for better firefighting conditions.

“Any time you have more pressure at the fire plugs, that makes it better for firefighting,” he said, adding that improved water pressure also allows firefighters to fill up their trucks faster.