LELAND — Officials from the Town of Leland have addressed questions about the recently completed water tower at Brunswick Forest. While the tower is not without issues, officials affirmed the tower can handle its current capacity and more.
The concerns circulating involve whether the tower is running at full capacity and whether it has adequate pressure. Leland’s operation services director said the town had “heard these rumors as well.”
According to Leland Town Manager David Hollis, the water tower is in fact not full, but this is deliberate because it has been engineered to plan for future growth.
“The demand for the town’s water system is approximately 260,000 gallons per day, but the town over-built the water tank for future growth to a capacity of 750,000 gallons. The water tank is currently running around 450,000 gallons in the tank,” Hollis said.
According to Hollis, water pressure fluctuations in water towers are part of the engineered design and are not necessarily negative.
“The system as designed and constructed functions correctly and the water level in the tank fluctuates with the pressure of the county’s water system. All water towers transition from high levels to lower levels during a typical day or season based on demand and the water system pressure. This is a good thing for keeping the water fresh and turned over in the tank,” Hollis said.
However, the fluctuations at the Brunswick Forest tower have been an issue and, according to Hollis, “Town staff are not satisfied with the range of variance in these fluctuations.”
The Town of Leland is conducting a study of these fluctuating; part of the study includes considering installing a booster pump to help control water levels. However, Hollis added that a booster pump may not be the “ultimate decision that will be reached because the study includes the possibility of new alternate connections to (Brunswick) County’s system.”
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