In September 1998, disaster struck the City of Westminster, California, and its 90,000 residents. A 20-by-20-foot, 8-inch-thick panel in one of the city's 30-year-old concrete reservoirs ruptured without warning. In just three minutes, the city was flooded by 5 million gallons of water. Waves crested as high as 8 feet, injuring four people and damaging 14 vehicles and 50 structures.

After the incident, the city demolished the damaged concrete reservoir as well as an adjacent 5-million gallon concrete reservoir. City officials then retained CB&I to replace the reservoirs with an all-welded-steel storage system. The city opted to have the new reservoirs constructed of welded steel due to its zero leakage tolerance, ductile behavior for seismic loads, low initial cost and long service life.

We have provided tens of thousands of reliable steel water storage tanks of various sizes and configurations across the United States. Our welded steel tanks have demonstrated their reliability and durability to municipalities for more than 100 years.

We designed the new steel reservoirs and their foundations and also handled the procurement, fabrication, construction and painting of the structures. We completed the project in 15 months. The new reservoirs increased the city's water storage capacity by 60 percent.