The final component of the water conveyance system for Chimney Hollow Reservoir began late last year and is already more than halfway completed. The inlet/outlet tower is a submerged reinforced concrete tower that will provide a 'dead storage' space in the bottom of the reservoir, which will allow sediment and debris to fill without clogging up the conveyance infrastructure. It will also allow operators to draw water from a higher location in the reservoir profile, so that cleaner, oxygenated water can be discharged from Chimney Hollow Reservoir into the downstream water supplies.  

Crews have completed three concrete wall lifts on the tower and are now working on the flared intake structure. After that is complete, a prefabricated steel square section will be installed to complete connection from the tunnel to the tower. There is also a system of trash racks that will be installed to keep debris from entering the tower, as well as a bulkhead that can isolate the pipeline in the tunnel to be inspected for maintenance purposes.   

The structure will be complete this spring and ready for dry testing in April, followed by wet testing in May and June.