IRONTON — The city’s new water tank now has a lid.

One of the final stages in completion of the city’s new Nixon Hill water tank happened Tuesday with the pouring of the concrete roof of the estimated $1.58 million water storage facility.

Workers with Preload, Inc., poured several hundred yards of concrete on a cool, yet dry morning. When complete, the two-million-gallon tank will replace the city’s century old water storage facility plagued by age and leaks.

Standing nearly 35-feet off the ground, the roof of the new tank should take six weeks to set and remove the temporary support footers. The thickness of the dome-shaped roof varies from 14 inches at its base to four inches at the top of apex of the dome.

Mayor Rich Blankenship said the new tank could be operational by June.

“We are making tremendous progress on the tank,” Blankenship said. “Inflow testing should begin soon.”

Replacement of the city’s aging underground concrete water tank began in 2007 with site preparation. The old tank has been losing water for years because of a crack in the floor and has been leaking nearly 300,000 gallons a day.

The facility was abandoned, except for the well and the waterlines, years ago when the city built a new system along the Ohio River.

The new project includes a 12-inch diameter water line to the U.S. 52/SR 141 interchange that connects with a main line.

For Blankenship, the operation of the new tank can’t come soon enough.

“We just need an operational water tank that doesn’t leak.”