Nestled in the south central part of Minnesota, Waterville is a small town, an hour south of the Twin Cities and just east of Mankato. During the fall and winter months, it is home to fewer than 2,000 people, but its proximity to Lake Sakatah and Lake Tetonka makes it a popular tourist spot in the summer with fishing, boating, canoeing and water sports attracting enough tourists to swell the population to more than 3,500.

The town’s water tower is a landmark, visible from both lakes. Aesthetics were important when the town decided to repaint the water tower in 2006 and apply a more elaborate logo at the same time. The process to choose the logo had been lengthy, so it was important that the final design be well preserved on the tower. Tnemec’s Series 700 HydroFlon, a fluoropolymer polyurethane, was chosen for the exterior design because of its excellent color and gloss retention. The highgloss fluorourethane exterior finish has outstanding resistance to ultra-violet light degradation, providing unprecedented long-term gloss and color retention with excellent resistance to abrasion and chalking.

The tank’s exterior steel was prepared in accordance with SSPC-SP6/NACE No. 3 Commercial Blast Cleaning, then primed with Series 91-H2O Hydro-Zinc, a twocomponent, aromatic urethane zinc-rich primer. Next, an intermediate coat of Series 73 Endura-Shield, an aliphatic acrylic polyurethane, was applied followed by a topcoat of HydroFlon.

Following surface preparation in accordance with SSPC-SP10/NACE No. 2 NearWhite Metal Blast Cleaning, the tank’s interior steel was also primed with Series 91-H20 Hydro-Zinc, the first zinc-rich primer certified in accordance with ANSI/ NSF Std. 61 for use in potable water. Two coats of Series 20 Pota-Pox, the industry standard for potable water epoxy coatings, completed the interior system.