On Wednesday, Pennsylvania American Water invited local officials to a “tour” of the renovated facility.

A group of ten people stepped through the larger entry portal and were able to walk around inside the empty and recently painted tank.

There wasn’t much to see. The tank is a cylinder with a domed ceiling. It is all white inside. The primary details were the ribs in the ceiling, the large pipe coming up through the floor, and the two open portals that were the primary sources of light inside until a Pennsylvania American Water worker set up a work light just inside the smaller portal.

There was a lot to hear. Words spoken in the tank were caught in the ceiling and, although there was no clear echo, the murmurs carried on for several seconds.

Times Observer photo by Brian Ferry John Papalia of Warren County Chamber of Business and Industry talks with Pennsylvania American Water personnel inside the million-gallon tank at the Liberty Street Extension Tanner Hill site.

The million-gallon tank was taken out of service for months. In order to allow for that work, PAW built a 436,000-gallon tank on the same land — the Tanner Hill site. That tank will remain in service.

“Throughout the past 15 months, Pennsylvania American Water has constructed a new water storage tank and rehabilitated an existing structure,” Project Manager Ralph Wawrzyniakowski said. “These investments will ensure that adequate supplies of water are available to meet customer demand and fire protection during times of need. “While the tank was out of service, we completed structural, safety, and sanitary testing.”

The tank was built in 1957 and rehabilitated in 1981.

“The approximately $1.3 million upgrade significantly increases water storage capacity for the company’s approximately 5,400 Warren system customers,” Western PA External Affairs Manager Gary Lobaugh said in a release.

Asked about the dirt tracked into the tank by visitors, Wawrzyniakowski said there will be a final cleaning before the tank is put through its final testing and permitting.

Times Observer photo by Brian Ferry The outside of the Pennsylvania American Water tank at the Liberty Street Extension Tanner Hill site has been renovated as well as the inside. The tank will be back in service following testing and permitting.

“We have to fill the tank completely” and conduct two bacteria tests and one volatile organic compounds test, Wawrzyniakowski said.

Once those test results are in and negative, the company will submit them to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

The tank will be put into operation once DEP issues an operations permit.

After that, it will remain sealed for one year. “We will have an anniversary inspections,” Wawrzyniakowski said. “It won’t be open again for 20 to 25 years.”

Water enters and leaves the tank through the same two-foot pipe in the floor. When the pressure is higher in the system than in the tank, it fills. When there is so much water in the tank that the pressure is greater there, it empties.

Times Observer photo by Brian Ferry Officials from the City of Warren, Warren County Chamber of Business and Industry, and Pennsylvania American Water pose for a photo Wednesday inside the newly renovated one-million-gallon water tank on Liberty Street Extension.

On a normal day, the tank will go through a fill-drain cycle twice. Due to pressure in the system, the tank never completely empties nor completely fills during normal use.