Crew paints mural on new water tank
A painting crew is embellishing the city’s new elevated water tank with a local artist’s mural, one of the final steps before the 3 million gallons of storage are integrated into the regional water system’s 140-square-mile distribution network.
Chicago Bridge & Iron is wrapping Ryan Kahler Rooney’s “Welcoming Hills of Hot Springs” illustration around the 370foot circumference of the tank behind Cornerstone Market Place. Hot Springs Utilities Director Monty Ledbetter said Monday the mural is oriented to be most visible from Central Avenue, with the hill in the 3400 block offering the best view of the mural’s center.
The letters in the mural are 22 feet tall.
“We modified the sunset that’s behind the Hot Springs Mountain Tower,” he said, noting more than 20 colors make up the mural. “We changed the location. We had to move them around a little bit to make sure you see the ‘Welcome to Hot Springs’ coming up Central Avenue in both directions.
“We moved it so it could best be seen from the lake and Central Avenue to the south. To the north, if you sit on top of that
hill you see the tank real well. That’s the area we targeted to face the logo toward.”
The request for proposals the city issued in February 2019 said illustrations should be symbolic of the city, incorporating elements that convey its status as a tourist destination. More than half a dozen artists responded. The city said the winning entry received $2,000.
The painting of the tank’s interior is nearing completion, Ledbetter said. Adding the concrete floor to the interior is one of the final steps before the tank can be filled.
“I don’t have a set date,” he said of when the tank will join the distribution system. “We’ll have to get CB&I to commit to a finish date. That’s hard to do when you’re painting, especially a mural this big. It’s longer than a football field if you stretched it out.
“That’s a lot of painting they have to do. The humidity and the temperature have to be right, and there can’t be a threat of rain. There’s a lot that goes into it. It just depends on the weather at this point.”
The Hot Springs Board of Directors awarded CB&I the
$4.65 million contract in 2018 to build the 140-foot pedestal and tank, drawing most of the funding from the $20 million bond issue the board authorized earlier that year for water system improvements.
CB&I used a system of cables supported by 30 hydraulic jacks to lift the 700,000-pound tank onto the pedestal in January. The Ouachita Water Treatment Plant that treats water from upper Lake Hamilton will feed the tank when it comes online. The new 15 million-gallon a day plant the city plans to build off of Amity Road will eventually supply it via 12-inch and 20inch lines along Central Avenue and the King Expressway. Lake Ouachita is the raw water source for the new plant.
The tower’s height, 710 feet above sea level and rising more than 200 feet from the ground, adds to the portfolio of usable storage the city can tap in the event of a service interruption, giving it close to 12 hours of demand. The Arkansas Department of Health recommends systems have storage capacity that can meet a full day’s demand. Most of the roughly one dozen active tanks in the distribution system are at ground level and below elevated parts of the service area, making their bottom halves unavailable for distribution.