Town official outlines plan to replace Weston water tanks to boost capacity and pressure

An agency official for the town said the municipality plans to replace its three aging water storage tanks with higher-capacity tanks placed at higher elevations to increase storage and improve water pressure in low-pressure areas.

The official said engineering analysis and research led the town to conclude replacement is preferable to repairing the existing tanks. "The best option is to replace the three... tanks with new upgraded higher capacity tanks at the correct elevation," the official said, saying the change would "provide the water Weston needs for its population and properly pressurize the entire system."

On timing, the official argued action should come before a system failure. "The time to upgrade our system is before it breaks," the official said, adding that the town reached a consensus that immediate planning is appropriate so the town can "plan what we get and plan what's going to help us into the future rather than... taking something on a whim after a catastrophic emergency."

The town made an economic argument for replacement: the official said repairing (recoding) a steel tank can cost nearly as much as full replacement, and that replacing now "is the best time economically." The official emphasized designing a system to serve long-term needs so "the folks 75 years from now can say the system is operating as it was intended to operate."

The speaker said the tanks' "total age" is "approximately 240 years old," a figure presented as an approximation in the transcript; the town did not provide documentation to verify that number and it appears unlikely given typical service lives for such infrastructure. The town did not provide specific cost estimates, a construction timeline, or a formal vote during this discussion.

Next steps: the official described consensus to proceed with planning and design work but did not specify procurement steps, funding sources, or a construction schedule. The town staff indicated planning would continue; no formal motion or vote was recorded in the provided transcript.