Rehabilitation work continues on Estevan's water tower as the fall season approaches.
The project started back in March, and the city says its hope is that the work is finished up by mid October.
"We replaced all of the beams on the upper bowl section, we repainted it, and then we replaced the landing of how we get in and out of the tower, and then repaired the ladder going into the bottom of the bowl," said Shane Bucsis, the city's water and wastewater services manager.
The water tower first went up in 1957 and Bucsis said this is the first time it has undergone a major rehabilitation.
"The water town rehabilitation has been on the city's radar for about eight years now, and it just hit that critical point of 'we need to get the work done to make sure that we're able to use it,'" Bucsis said.
"This work is ultimately to extend the life of it for another 40 to 50 years."
Bucsis said the initial budget for the undertaking was 1.6 million, but said that number has since gone up.
"Obviously with something this old, you're never quite sure until you get into it what's wrong with it," he said. "A couple months ago I asked to increase the budget to 2.4 million to cover the expenditure of the beams in the roof needing to be all replaced."
He said the weather has slowed the project a little bit, particularly the late spring snow storms and the extreme heat in the summer.
Bucsis said the inside coating of the tower has been completed on the upper part, and the next step for crews is to remove the scaffolding and start to work on the lower section.
The water tower is primarily used for storage and can hold about 620,000 gallons of water.