The town of Florence will be purchasing a water tank for the Charles Whitlow Rodeo Grounds in an amount not to exceed $90,000.

The Florence Town Council at it's June 5 meeting authorized the town manager to make the pruchase.

Currently the rodeo grounds uses a well with a maximum capacity of 35-gallons-per minute and a small storage tank with about a 2,000 gallon-capacity for potable water use, according to a staff report.

The report added that at this time, “it is not cost effective to drill a larger well” to offset the need for a large tank.

The current plan is to purchase and install one 104,000-gallon storage tank for non-potable water use. A larger storage tank is not currently needed to meet the International Fire Code until additional structures are built at the rodeo grounds in the future, the report stated.

Town staff estimated that the cost for a 104,000-gallon storage tank is about $90,000.

“This water storage tank would pay for itself in less than four years,” the staff report added.

Earlier this year, the council earmarked $14,500 from the council’s contingency fund to pay for transporting water to the Charles Whitlow Rodeo Grounds “for dust control for a limited number of events for the current fiscal year.”