Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County board members authorized nearly $3 million in spending Wednesday to repaint and repair water tanks and replace 17 trucks and work vans in its fleet of 220 vehicles.

Officials said a nearly 3-million-gallon tank in Mt. Pleasant Township and a 500,000-gallon tank in Hempfield will be repainted this year as part of the authority’s ongoing repair program of its water distribution system. The authority, which sells water to more than 123,000 customers in Westmoreland, Allegheny, Armstrong, Fayette and Indiana counties, operates 67 above-ground water tanks.

Water tanks are typically repainted and repaired at 20- to 30-year intervals.

“We were behind about 10 years ago, but we’re catching up now,” MAWC board chairman Randy Roadman said of the painting and repair program.

Officials expect upgrades to the Mt. Pleasant area tank will cost more than $926,000. Improvements to the smaller tank in Hempfield are targeted to cost more than $706,000.

Authority board members approved payments of $586,111 and $477,999 to Worldwide Industries Corp. of Butler to paint both tanks.

The authority board also approved the purchase of 17 vehicles to replace aging fleet vehicles.

MAWC business manager Brian Hohman said new vehicles are bought annually. Work vans, pickups assigned to foremen and other staff and utility vehicles are included in the purchases through several local dealers for a total of more than $1.3 million.

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