<div>Ravenna’s old water tower is no more, but a new one will soon take its place.Located at Route 14 and Loomis Parkway, the former water tower was taken offline in June 2014 due to poor water quality. It’s stood empty ever since.Built in 1980, the tank held 3 million gallons of water, but even now, the city only uses about a million and a half gallons a day, City Engineer Bob Finney said. The rest of the water remained in the tank, and the longer it stayed there, the less potable all the water was, he explained.Why 3 million gallons? Finney said city officials at the time expected the city to grow. Ravenna also served Rootstown’s water needs and was working with county commissioners to provide water to county customers, as well.At the time, standard practice was that cities should have double the amount of water they needed for both potable and fire protection purposes, Finney said. However, water customers have become more water conscious over the years, so even a growing number of business and residential customers means less water is needed now than previously, he said.“It’s disappointing that we lost the Rootstown water customers, and the contract with the commissioners never came to fruition,” he said. “The Portage County commissioners decided to buy water from the city of Cleveland and send it through the piping network down to Portage County. So Aurora is drinking Cleveland water.”The city is currently operating with one 500,000-gallon elevated water tower located at City Park. Finney said the single tank creates a “major vulnerability in the case of a large fire or a distribution main break.”The city’s new 750,000 gallon tank will be right where the old one was and will provide additional water flow for Ravenna residents, the City of Kent and Kent State students. An emergency distribution line connects Kent’s and Ravenna’s water distribution systems, allowing Ravenna to assist Kent and KSU with water needs should emergencies arise.Recalling the Dec. 2, 2022, Star of the West mill fire in Kent, Finney said Ravenna, along with other fire departments, was sending Kent water to fight the blaze.“Our water plant was really struggling to keep up,” he said. “A second tank would have helped tremendously.”The old tank was removed on Sept. 9 and 10. The city’s contractor is evaluating the foundation soil and designing a foundation for the new tank. Once it is complete, a concrete pedestal will be constructed and a new steel tank will be placed on top of it. Construction is set to be completed in October 2025.To finance the new tank, the city has secured a $250,000 Ohio Public Works Commission loan, $500,000 in ARPA funds, $300,000 from the city water fund, a $750,000 state Residential Public Infrastructure Grant and a $1.438 million H2Ohio (EPA) grant.That’s about $1.76 million short of the total estimated project cost. The city water fund will finance the shortfall, and Finney continues to search for additional grant money.Finney noted that the city’s residential and business water rates “are of the cheapest around the region,” and that “with much of the service customers being low to moderate income, it is difficult raising rates high enough to fund a project of this caliber.”</div>

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Ravenna removes old water tower, shares plan for new one

Ravenna’s old water tower is no more, but a new one will soon take its place. Located at Route 14 and Loomis Parkway, the former water tower was taken offline in June 2014 due to poor water quality. It’s stood empty ever since. Built in 1980, the tank...