The water tower in Genoa is getting a new paint job — and this time it will recognize the village as the home of the Comets.
On May 28, Genoa was approved by the Ohio Water Development Authority for a $606,855.92 loan at 1.75% interest for 20 years for improvements on the 500,000 gallon water tower storage tank at East 4th Street.
The loan for Genoa was among 11 Ohio projects to get $10.2 million in low-interest loans, meant to improve wastewater and drinking water infrastructure improvements.
“Every 20 years or so, you should do this. There are a couple EPA requirements, but the nice thing is that we will now comply with modern EPA requirements. It’s literally things as simple as where the railing needs to be and standards like that,” Genoa Village Administrator Tom Bergman said. “It’s not coming down. People braver than me will come in and use ropes and whatnot, get all strapped up, weld the inside and they will have to paint it.”
The council decided to paint it “Welcome to Genoa,” like the other water tower, and add “Home of the Comets” over a white paint job.
The Genoa water tower work is part of an effort to extend the tower’s useful life. The water tower was built in 2000.
Rehabilitation of Genoa’s 150,000-gallon elevated tank was completed first.
“The water tower does a lot of the heavy lifting in terms of creating water pressure,” Bergman said. “This is the big one. It’s the main one.”
The tank first has to be emptied. It will also have parts welded onto the outside so a tent can cover it to capture the paint dust. When the interior work is done, the exterior will be painted.
The work will include abrasive blast cleaning and painting of the exterior. On the interior, work will include spot blast, brush blast and painting the dry interior. Additionally, there will be a full blast of piping in the valve vault, an abrasive blast clean and paint for the wet interior, pit welds in wet interior and repairs to the roof hatches.
Work is expected to be finished in 2027.
The tower is part of the village water system, which covers Genoa, Clay Township, Allen Township, Clay Center and parts of Woodville Township.
Contact Roger LaPointe at 419-332-2674.
This article originally appeared on Port Clinton News Herald: Comets coming home to Genoa water tower
Reporting by Roger LaPointe, Port Clinton News Herald / Port Clinton News Herald
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Roger LaPointe, Port Clinton News Herald | USA TODAY Network
