CASPER, Wyoming – The Casper City Council on Tuesday gave the green light to funding a 10 million gallon concrete tank that Chief Operating Officer Tom Brauer calls the hub of the city’s water system.

The $12 million project would be funded 67 percent by the state’s Wyoming Water Development Commission. The remainder, about $4 million, would be secured by a 20-year loan at 2.5 percent interest from the state revolving fund, according to Brauer’s memo and letter to the Casper City Council during Tuesday’s public pre-meeting.

Brauer explained that the existing tank was built in the 1950s and is now leaking and work on it is becoming increasingly difficult. The memo states that an engineering study in 2018 estimated that the tank was nearing the end of its useful life.

The single underground concrete tank would become two above-ground tanks, which Brauer said would be much easier to monitor and repair. Brauer added that underground concrete tanks are about twice as expensive and are more prone to cracking, especially in the clay-like soil conditions common in Casper.

City Manager Carter Napier said a call for formal action would be issued shortly.

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