Work continues to refurbish the East 12th Avenue water tower and return it to service.
There have been two main components of the restoration effort, a complete redo of both the interior and exterior. The interior work is nearing completion and work is now underway on the exterior, including a totally-new paint scheme to reflect a 10-year, $75,000 partnership with Emporia State University.
The tower has been offline since Sept. 5 and there is no date to return it to service at this time. Shortly after the tower went offline, the city had over 40 water main breaks in a five-day stretch before a decision to flush fire hydrants in northwest Emporia helped to bring that number to under 15 a week. The city has been in a water watch since early September, mainly due to the number of pipe failures at that time. The watch will likely be removed once the tower comes back online.
