The Vevay Town Council heard more information at its meeting on Monday evening concerning the slippage occurring around the new water tank on the hillside just west of town.
The ground around the tank began sliding due to heavy rains over the past few weeks, and engineers and others who had been involved in the original project and having carefully monitoring the situation.
Vevay town councilman Keith Smith said that the town has been pumping water out of the tank in order lessen the weight on the hillside. Currently there is no water in the tank, with the town using the underground tank located behind the fairgrounds to store water. That underground tank was renovated when the new tank was installed, and Keith Smith said that it is more than sufficient to handle the town’s water needs right now.
“It would be nice for us to be able to get the new tank back online before the summer, because it’s 300,000 gallons where the underground tank is only 150,000 gallons,” Keith Smith said.
Mike Meyer of SIECO reported at Monday’s meeting that the tank itself is not sliding, The company that came down to do the core samples that the town council ordered once the problem arose has finished its work, and told Mike Meyer that the water tank itself is sitting on solid rock.
That said, the company that did the core samples still wants to track the situation for four more months before water is put back into the tank; but the town council is still undecided on what to do.
“If it’s a long, dry summer, we sure would like to have a bigger tank than 150,000 gallons of the whole town of Vevay,” Keith Smith said. “Right now we’re at a wait and see.”
The consultants have suggested that the town install a series of 25 concrete piers in front of the tank running down the hill. Mike Meyer suggested that the town council go down the side of the hill where the water line is and dig down into the rock and put the water line in the rock.
That way if the soil did slide, it would simply slide over the top of the water line, instead of pulling the water line along with it.
“If the hill decides to slide, it’s going to take the water line with it — that’s the big problem,” Keith Smith said. “The concern is not that the tank is going to slide, but that the land will slide and tear the water line. If that happens when the tank is full, you’re looking at 300,00 gallons of water coming down that hillside.”
The town council is now awaiting more information from the company that did the core samples, but are wanting to make a decision on a course of action as soon as possible.