CARY, NC – Today at 2 p.m., Cary leaders will "christen" the newest addition to their water supply system--a three million gallon ground storage tank designed to pump up to five million gallons of water a day to thirsty businesses and residents in the area. The $2.2 million plant at 1431 Old Apex Road--which includes a pump station, standby generator, and communication control with the Cary Apex water plant--helps Cary better handle peak water demand and increases the amount of storage for fire fighting capacity.

Until now, the Town of Cary had four water storage tanks in service, all above ground. The Old Apex tank is Cary’s first ground storage tank and is part of the Town’s expansion of its water supply infrastructure launched in 1999 with voter approval of the $139 million Cary Community Bonds initiative. Of that, $66.5 million was to be directed to Cary’s water system, with about $10 million of that going towards building four additional water storage tanks. Old Apex is the first of those four new water storage tanks to be put into service; two more tanks—both above ground--will go into service in early 2002.

Other water supply improvements recently completed by Cary include the first phase of expansion of the existing Cary-Apex treatment plant from 16 million gallons per day to 24 mgd—also funded buy the 1999 bonds. In January, the second phase of the expansion is expected to conclude, taking the plant to 40 mgd. The plant provides high quality drinking water to Cary, Apex, Morrisville, Raleigh-Durham International Airport, and the Wake County portion of Research Triangle Park.

"These water system projects are part of meeting the Town Council’s direction to ensure that our infrastructure development is in step with our slower growth," said Assistant Town Manager Ben Shivar. "And by using the voter-approved bonds, we’ve been able to make these improvements faster and cheaper than we could have with alternative funding sources."

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