DELPHOS — After more than a year of construction and planning, the last piece of equipment was placed at the reservoir site Monday.
A large shed-like facility was moved from the firearms shooting range on Pohlman Road that, according to Water Superintendent Tim Williams, will house the reservoir’s pumps that will move reservoir water to the treatment facility near Waterworks Park through underground pipes.
“The whole thing is a pre-fabricated unit. It comes in and is popped into place with a crane, though that oversimplifies it because it’s a big and heavy unit,” said City Safety Service Director Greg Berquist.
The unit was lifted by crane onto a flatbed truck and transported along State Route 66 with police traffic control Monday morning. Berquist says fiscal responsibility led officials to purchase the unit rather than construct a similar one because it was less expensive to purchase the pre-fabricated unit.
Wise use of dollars was also a key factor in storing the unit at the gun range until a crane became available.
“Rather than leave it somewhere else, we figured we’d just leave it on city property. When the contractor comes and says ‘where do you want it put?,’ we have to look at how much it costs and to move it,” he said.
Funds for the unit and its transportation come from project dollars allotted for the pumping station and work was performed by Peterson Construction.