Prior to the project, the City of Brandon’s water infrastructure consisted of cast iron and transite watermains, a water tower with a capacity one-third of the City’s daily demand and a gravity sand filter treatment plant that was channelized and operating poorly. The project needed to be completed while continuing to provide residents and businesses within the City with potable water. The cost of the improvements was significant and the impact to the residents and businesses of the City needed to be minimized.

A new water tower and treatment facility were built on a new site one block from the existing facilities, so that the existing facilities could remain in service during construction. One at a time, the water supply wells were cleaned with new piping and controls installed to the new treatment facility. Water mains were offset from their original placement, so that temporary water systems or extended water outages were not necessary. Design Tree assisted the City by preparing the grant applications for the Small Cities Development Program Grant and the USDA Rural Development grant and Loan. These efforts resulted in the City receiving $1,557,000 of grant money for a total project of $3,242,000 or 48% grant money.

The most time consuming part of the design was determining the shape, colors and graphics for the new water tower.