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In a Colorado Springs Utilities photo, taken
from atop a nearby water tank at the Mesa Treatment Plant, the status of
demolition work on a basin is shown June 11. Photos from the same vantage
point June 1 and 6 are displayed at the bottom of this page, beneath the article.
Major upgrades for 76-year-old water treatment plant at Mesa & Fillmore
According to Natalie Eckhart of Colorado
Springs Utilities, this photo shows "original gear used to operate the plant."
Courtesy of Colorado Springs Utilities
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For those who may have noticed construction activity in and around the Mesa Water Treatment Plant in recent weeks, the work reflects “performance and efficiency" upgrades, according to a press release and website information.
Located just west of Coronado High School, the Colorado Springs Utilities facility is at the northeast corner of Fillmore Street and Mesa Road.
The project is scheduled to continue into late 2020. However, the Springs Utilities press release adds that “most of the noisy work - demolition of the basins and other structures located near the center of the campus - is expected to end in late July.”
Construction of new facilities is to begin late this summer or early fall.
The project scope involves updated equipment and new buildings, including those dating back to when the plant was commissioned in 1942 and expanded
In a view looking west, taken from about where
Coronado High School is now, the original Mesa Water Treatment Plant is shown
while under construction in the early 1940s. The wording over the future entrance
reads "Colorado Springs Filter Plant," with the date above stating "1942."
Courtesy of Colorado Springs Utilities
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The website defines the scope of new work as "reconfiguration of the solids drying beds; and construction of a new main pretreatment building, two small auxiliary buildings and a new raw water vault."
Water is piped to the plant from different locations. One of these is Pikes Peak - the diversion is from Fountain Creek at 33rd Street - while others are on the opposite side of the Continental Divide where the city owns water rights. The facility treats the raw water and tests it for purity before releasing it into the city water system. Most of Colorado Springs is served from this plant.
In a related effort, Utilities is planning a new cellular tower atop the plant's water tower. The project will be in collaboration with service providers AT&T and T- Mobile. The structure is “known as a monopine for its resemblance to a pine tree [and will] replace outdated cell units on the water tower,” the press release states.
The combined height of the monopine and the 72-foot tower will be 106 feet, according to Natalie Eckhart of Utilities.
She said the only public comments received about the monopine have been “from neighbors happy about the prospect of improved cellular service in the area.”
Westside Pioneer article
(Projects:
Utilities)
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The status of demolition work on the same
basin as the photo at the top of this page is shown June 6.
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The same basin as in the photo above and at the
top of this page is shown June 1, before demolition began.
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