Abbeville to renovate water towers

They profess their love for Abbeville, 365 days a year.
The city’s two water towers will soon receive a little TLC in return.
The Abbeville City Council approved funds earlier this year for a renovation project to the two towers. Work will include maintenance inside, as well as painting the outside of each.
“The project will start any day now,” Abbeville Mayor Mark Piazza said Friday morning.
The project will cost the city a total of $400,000, funds the city obtained by incurring debt from the selling of bonds earlier this year. The work will not, however, cost Abbeville residents in regards to water usage.
“Water pressure will not be affected,” Piazza said. “They are going to do one tank at a time.”
The tanks each hold around 400,000 gallons.
“That is enough to maintain water pressure throughout the renovation period,” Piazza said. “Residents will not notice anything different.”
Timing is a factor.
“You wouldn’t want to do it during the winter time,” Piazza said. “Extreme temperatures, cold weather type conditions can affect water pressure. During the spring and early summer, you have a lot of watering of the lawns and things like that. We do have some drought conditions right now, but regardless, I am being told the water pressure will not be affected right now.
“This is a good time to do the project.”
It has been a few years since the last similar effort by the city.
“It has been about 15 years,” Piazza said. “The inside is what is critical. The exterior is basically cosmetic. With the chlorination that we use, the inside of the tank does get some corrosion. It also gets some pitting, where you get these little holes.
“You have to re-coat those every 10 to 15 years.”
The nature of the work leads to the longer time between.
“It is expensive, so it is not something that is going to be done frequently,” Piazza said. “It is a major project. You can imagine being inside one of those tanks.”
As for the outside, the tanks will be painted in a well-known color scheme.
“The two water towers are going to be painted red and gray,” Piazza said. “That is the colors of our flagship school, Abbeville High School. Those colors mean a lot to the city.”
The legs will be painted a darker gray, with the bulb of the tower being painted a lighter gray.
As for the red, that will be a fresh coat on the towers’ “I Heart Abbeville” logo. Piazza mentioned earlier this year his desire to see that remain visible on the towers.
“Former Mayor Brady Broussard Sr. and his wife, Bonnie, came up with that,” Piazza said. “That goes back many, many years.
“That’s our logo and a great face for the city.”