“Swifter, Higher, Stronger.” That’s the Olympic motto and in the late 1980s, it could have been adopted by the city of Oklahoma City, Okla., and most of the state of Oklahoma, as it prepared to welcome more than 4,000 athletes for the 1989 U.S. Olympic Festival. In just two short years, the city and surrounding region underwent a transformation as preparations were made at sports venues, hotels, restaurants, parks, streets and everywhere for the onslaught of visitors, athletes and media attention.

Not even water tanks were immune to makeovers – as evidenced by the work done on the Hefner Road water tank. However, several challenges presented themselves before the project was successfully completed.

First, a new tank bowl had to be built and hoisted onto the legs because the old one contained lead and was too corroded to restore. Then, with the purple color the organizers wanted to use for the festival logo being difficult to replicate, a two-toned color matching a nearby church was chosen.

Completed in 1989, the Hefner Road water tank received Tnemec coatings inside and out. The interior steel was prepared in accordance with SSPC-SP10/NACE No. 2 Near-White Metal Blast Cleaning, followed by two coats of Series 20 Pota-Pox, a polyamide epoxy. Known for its forgiving application characteristics, Series 20 is the industry standard for potable water epoxy coatings.

Following surface preparation in accordance with SSPC-SP6/NACE No. 3 Commercial Blast Cleaning, the tank’s exterior steel received two coats of Series 66 Hi-Build Epoxoline, a polyamide epoxy known for its benchmark performance. Next a topcoat of Series 70 Endura-Shield, an aliphatic polyester polyurethane, was applied to complete the exterior coating system.

Years later in 2007, “there is still no corrosion,” reports Tnemec coating consultant Don Stanek.