Carefree upgrades water tank to withstand earthquakes
By Curtis Riggs | June 11, 2008
CAREFREE – The Board of Directors of the Carefree Water Company approved a $24,000 upgrade to its new Carefree Highlands water storage tank last week to strengthen it enough to withstand an earthquake and to bring it up to the same standards as the 1-million gallon storage tank on East Stagecoach Pass.
Carefree Water Company General Manager Stan Francom told the board that adding more steel and concrete to the new Cowtrack Estates 150,000-gallon storage tank would enable it to last 100 years. The new 150,000-gallon tank will be built to allow the other 150,000-gallon tank at the same site to be taken down for repairs. Both tanks will provide water to east Carefree.
“We felt a six-inch floor would be even better,” Francom said.
The additional $24,000 amounts to a 7 percent increase in the cost of the new Carefree tank. The contract is with DYK Incorporated, the same California company that installed Cave Creek’s new water storage tanks, “That will upgrade it to meet the specifications on the other tank,” Francom said about Carefree’s largest and most recently built tank.