Construction on an additional elevated water tank in the city of Ridgeland should be under way.
Hemphill Construction Co. was expected to begin work on the tank, which will hold one million gallons of water and be located near Highland Colony Parkway about 800 feet south of the Madison County Schools complex, on June 3.
Hemphill Construction’s contract with the city provides 700 days to complete the project and puts the finish date at May 4, 2026.
“The purpose of this project is to provide more capacity for all of our water system customers from a site more centrally located on the portion of our system that is west of the interstate (I-55),” said Ridgeland Mayor Gene F. McGee.
“At our last annual inspection, the Mississippi Department of Health rated our water system at 73 percent of its capacity. Prior to this project, water was fed to the customers on the west side of the interstate by two different wells, one located on Hardy Road and the other located on School Street, which makes for some long runs. This project will provide the additional capacity and reduce the paths for meeting the customer demands, which will strengthen the reliability of our water system.”
The total project cost is $11 million which includes construction, engineering, land and incidentals.
The city of Madison also has plans for a new water tower.
Pickering Engineering is involved with the replacement of the existing water tower at Cotton Hill Road with a larger water tower.
The plan is to install a new tower and then remove the old one and sell it. “It’s got value and that would offset the cost,” said Pete Vozzo, director of operations for the city of Madison.
The new tower, which would hold about 100 million gallons of water, would triple the water capacity at that location, he said.
“We would anticipate it would be two and half years before the new tower is operational,” he said.
