Town Administrator Bruce Keiser invited all town officials and residents to the groundbreaking ceremonies Monday, April 3, at 9 a.m. at the site for the new water tower on Howland Avenue, which is also the location of the existing water tower.

The Fisher Tank Company of Chester, Pa., lowest of three bidders on the $1,169,220 project, will build the tank as part of the 2004 bond issue of $6.2 million for several projects to upgrade the municipal water system. The town has a $500,000 federal grant to be applied toward the tower work.

Fisher Tank has been constructing above ground tanks for about 58 years. The Jamestown contract is one of about 100 it has in various stages of completion.

Holding a million gallons, the existing tower provides less than 400,000 gallons of stored water for emergencies, especially fire protection, according to Fay, Spofford and Thorndike of Burlington, Mass., engineering consultants to the town for the water system improvements. The 400,000 gallons is less than the maximum needed by municipal water customers for one day.

The new tower will double the town's supply of stored water. Two million gallons of stored water would provide not quite 800,000 gallons or a two day supply for emergency, according to the engineers.

The second tower also ensures adequate protection in case of a major fire in the village, the engineers said.