Reclaimed Water Tank Raised 4/30/2009

Holly Springs' project to reuse some treated wastewater for irrigation reached a milestone this week with the raising of a 500,000 gallon tank atop a 16-story water tower in Holly Springs Business Park.

The storage tank on Irving Parkway is part of a separate piping system, the first phase of which is scheduled to go on line late this year. The first users will include the Novartis flu vaccine manufacturing facility under construction and the Twelve Oaks golf course community.

See a slideshow of the storage tank raising.

Town Engineering Director Stephanie Sudano said the project would help Holly Springs continue to be good stewards of the region's water resources. Benefits include:

• Lessening reliance on valuable drinking water for irrigation and other non-potable uses
  
  
• Delaying the need and associated costs of upgrading the potable water distribution infrastructure
  
  
• Meeting a state requirement to lower treated wastewater discharge into Utley Creek

The reclaimed water tower reaches a height of approximately 165 feet. Raising the storage tank to the top of the tower with a series of cables took about two hours.

See more photos for the relaimed water tower, including:

• The view upward, as workers prepare to raise the tank
• The view inside the concrete tower
• The view atop the tower, as seen by Kendra Parrish and Aaron Levitt of the Town's Engineering staff
• The logo that will be added to the storage tank

Over time, Holly Springs plans to extend the reclaimed water system through much of the town, focusing on areas with large irrigators such as schools, golf courses and certain businesses. The highly-treated wastewater can be used in certain other ways as well. Novartis also intends to use reclaimed water in its boilers.

The cost of the project's first phase is about $2.5 million. Congressman David Price helped the Town secure a $750,000 federal grant for the project.

Phase I covers about 2.5 miles of pipeline along New Hill Road, Green Oaks Parkway, Old Apex-Holly Springs Road and Irving Parkway. The distribution system includes new pipeline - painted purple to identify it as carrying reclaimed water - plus some pipeline already in the ground that was no longer being used.

Because of irrigation, demand for water during the hottest, driest parts of summer can be twice that of other times of year. The reclaimed water project is one way that the Town is working to lower peak demand for drinking water.

During years of planning for the reclaimed system, the Twelve Oaks golf course was envisioned as a logical initial user because of heavy irrigation needs and relative proximity to Holly Springs' wastewater treatment plant.

"We needed a large user in one place," Sudano said.

Home page

Town of Holly Springs - PO Box 8 - 128 South Main Street - Holly Springs, NC 27540 - (919) 552-6221 - Holly.Springs@hollyspringsnc.us