By: Michael Bennett, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Ridgetown Independent News
The process of building a new water tower for Ridgetown has begun.
The Chatham-Kent Public Utilities Commission has put out a call for tenders for engineering services for the new Ridgetown Elevated Water Tower and associated watermains project.
Companies are invited to submit proposals for consulting engineering services related to detailed design, tender-phase assistance, contract administration, and field inspection for the new tower and watermains.
The deadline to submit a proposal is April 22.
The new water tank will be constructed at the intersection of Ridge Line and Scane Road, as the location was chosen over four other sites.
The watermains are located on Gosnell Line, Mitton Line, Erie Street North and Scane Road.
The existing 39.6-metre high water tower on Ebenezer St. W. was constructed in 1969 by the Horton Steel Tank Co. of Fort Erie at a cost of $114,80 to serve Ridgetown and Highgate.
The estimated cost of the new water tower is $8,343,000.
The new elevated water tank will have a capacity of 2.8ML at a height of 48 metres. The composite elevated storage tank will be similar to the majority of towers in Chatham-Kent.
Darren Galbraith, PUC General Manager, said he expects construction tenders to go out later this year, with construction to begin late spring or early summer of 2027, with a target completion in the fall of 2028.
The new water tower and waterline are two of the prioritized projects in the Southeast Chatham-Kent Water Distribution System that were approved by Council last July as part of the PUC’s $1-billion Master Plan for water and wastewater improvements.
A Municipal Class Environmental Assessment determined that the Ridgetown-Highgate groundwater system had difficulty producing aesthetically pleasing water to meet future water demands.
The study also determined that insufficient pressure in the Ridgetown system would occur if additional pumping weren’t introduced for integration with the South Chatham-Kent Water System.
Plans are to construct a 16-km transmission main from Blenheim to Ridgetown at an anticipated cost of $24,667,875.
Council also approved installing a new 2.6-km transmission line from the South Chatham-Kent Water Treatment plant along Charing Cross Road to the Blenheim reservoir to increase capacity to meet future water demands, including the water line to service Ridgetown and Highgate.
The timeline for the changeover to Lake Erie water is three to four years.
