HADLEY — A project to replace the town’s Mount Warner and Mount Holyoke water storage tanks by the end of 2026, at a total cost of around $9 million, will be brought to voters at annual Town Meeting in the spring.

With a favorable recommendation from Department of Public Works Director Scott McCarthy, and a report in hand from Tighe & Bond engineers of Westfield, the Select Board voted unanimously Wednesday to put the capital expense on the Town Meeting warrant.

If the go-ahead is given by voters, the existing water tanks, which date to 1963 and 1976 and are part of the municipal water system, would be removed and new ground-level, glass-fused steel tanks would be constructed at the two locations, one off Mount Warner Road near North Hadley and the other off Route 47 in the Hockanum section of town.

McCarthy said the state’s Department of Environmental Protection is requiring the town, at minimum, to rehabilitate the existing tanks. The Mount Warner tank is 68 feet in diameter and 35 feet high, constructed on a 0.21-acre site, and the Mount Holyoke tank is 60 feet in diameter and 50 feet high, built on a 0.5 acre site.

“We have to do something with this, whether it’s the rehab or replacement,” McCarthy said. “It’s mandated by the DEP (that) we have to do something.”

McCarthy explained that a sanitary survey by DEP in late 2021 showed that the water tanks needed work, including painting the interior and exterior. Underwater Solutions Inc. of Mattapoisett then examined the tanks, confirming the need for painting due to exposed steel and corrosion. In the spring of 2022, voters approved $310,000 for the painting project.

Due to the complicated nature of painting, town officials then hired Tighe & Bond to examine the tanks. “It comes to us that the tanks are starting to get close to their life expectancy,” McCarthy said.

Danielle Teixeira, project manager for Tighe & Bond, explained the options and the challenges, as both sites are small and surrounded by state-owned land.

The most expensive option, at $200,000 to $500,000 beyond the $9 million, is building ground-level, pre-stressed concrete tanks. There would be a six-month construction period, but the new tanks would last for 80 years and minimal maintenance would be required, compared to the existing steel tanks.

The less expensive option is the ground-level, glass-fused steel tanks. There would be a two-month build by Aquastore, the only vendor, and they would last 75 years and have minimal maintenance needed.

Teixeira said additional costs include new mixing systems, electrical updates, new fences and new safety appurtenances.

“Based on cost, site constraints and the time of construction, we are proposing going with the ground-level, glass-fused steel tank,” Teixeira said.

Doing rehabilitation only would require a new coating system on the interior and exterior of the current tanks, which would last for about 20 years. The Mount Warner tank would likely last through one more rehab, while the Mount Holyoke tank might get through two more rehabs.

“Ultimately both would be needing new construction soon,” Teixeira said. “It really makes sense to just do the new construction at this point in time.”

McCarthy said visits to a glass-fused tank in Southampton, in operation for about a decade, shows that such a project can be successful. McCarthy said there is also a prominent glass-fused tank visible from Route 2 in Athol.

How the tanks will be paid for is uncertain.

Jeff Faulkner, project director for Tighe & Bond, said the town could get funding for the project through a U.S. Department of Agriculture low-interest loan with principal forgiveness. Voters, he said, would be taking a leap of faith on going forward and trusting that up to 40% of the costs might be reimbursed.

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.