Located in southwestern Ontario, Canada, Chatham-Kent is promoting itself to the world with a Community Brand campaign that includes videos, banners, graphic designs, and a landmark water tower featuring a fluoropolymer coating system from Tnemec.
“The municipality had retained a graphic artist to design a branding scheme to use across the community, including its water tanks,” explained Mike Elliott, Associate Partner with CIMA+, who was project manager for the Chatham-Kent water tower renovation. “It’s receiving considerable attention from people who have commented on how good it looks.”
Built in 1994, the one-million gallon tank was found to have significant rust bloom on the roof, as well as spot corrosion throughout the structure during an assessment by CIMA+ in 2013. Both an exterior and interior recoat was required.
The tank’s exterior steel was prepared in accordance with SSPC-SP6/NACE No. 3 Commercial Blast Cleaning, while interior steel was prepared in accordance with SSPCSP10/NACE No. 2 Near-White Metal Blast Cleaning. Both exterior and interior steel were primed with Series 94-H2O Hydro-Zinc, a moisture-cured, zinc-rich urethane that provides outstanding long-term corrosion resistance.
Zinc-rich primers like Series 94-H2O allow coating contractors maximum flexibility when working on rehabilitation projects, according to Elliott. “It can be stripe-coated and spray-applied for more complete corrosion protection,” he observed.
Exterior steel received an intermediate coat of Series 1075 Endura-Shield II, an aliphatic acrylic polyurethane, to provide additional film thickness for corrosion resistance. A finish coat of Series V700 HydroFlon, an advanced fluoropolymer in a blue and green color scheme, was applied to signify the region’s fertile land and abundant water.
Interior steel was topcoated with Series FC22 Epoxoline, an advanced generation, 100 percent solids epoxy, that offers high-build edge protection and allows for application at a wide range of temperatures. Both interior coatings are certified in accordance with NSF/ ANSI Std. 61 for use on interior potable water tanks.
Pride in the renovated water tank was evident in the community’s support of the project, which received the third highest number of votes in Tnemec’s 2014 Tank of the Year competition. “Local officials were posting on Facebook and Twitter encouraging people to vote for the tank,” noted David Walker, coating consultant with Avid Protective Products in Oakville, Ontario.
Walker added that the same color scheme likely will be used by the Chatham-Kent Public Utilities Commission on future tank projects.