Portland police offer reward for info on who’s shooting city water tower
PORTLAND, Tenn. (WKRN) — Who’s been shooting the water tower in Portland and why?
Those are the very serious question now being asked by Portland police and utilities officials.
Officials told News 2 they first noticed bullet holes in the water tower on Highway 52 East in September 2022. It’s been happening again this year.
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Investigators said someone in the nearby neighborhood used a long gun and shot that same water tower nine times in the first weeks of 2024.
Officials said at least three bullets pierced the quarter-inch metal, punching holes in the tank and causing a tremendous amount of damage.
Bryan Price, utilities director for the City of Portland, held up his pinky to describe the size of the holes in the tank.
“I would say they’re about the size of the end of your finger, the end of your pinky finger,” Price said.
According to Price, they learned of the vandalism when there was a pressure drop in the tank. When they inspected the 500,000-gallon tank more closely, they discovered water leaking from three bullet holes
“We were having a hard time filling one of our water tanks, and so we started trying to find where a leak was coming from. We went to the water tank and noticed three areas where water was coming out the side of the tank,” Price said.
According to Price, the tank serves more than 5,000 customers.
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So far, workers have been able to patch the holes and there have been no disruptions in service or contamination issues.
“The tank has a coating on outside and inside, so previous repairs we were able to make from the inside, but each time you repair from the inside, when you weld that, you knock the coating off on the inside, so now because it has happened so often, we will have to drop all the water and someone will actually have to get inside the tank and repair the coating on the inside,” Price said.
According to officials, starting next week the water tower will go off line while city workers flush approximately 400,000 gallons of water from the tank and repair it from the inside.
Officials said customers should not notice any change in service.
“We have interconnections with other municipalities around us; we’re very fortunate with that. We are fortunate that we think we can be able to handle this without anybody noticing any major interruptions. There may be some lower pressures in areas, but we do believe we’ll be able to handle that,” Price said.
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While utilities workers fix the tank, Portland police have launched a serious investigation into the malicious damage.
“We’re looking at anywhere from $60,000 to $100,000 in damage. It’s going to be a pretty significant felony, and depending on the reason for the vandalism, it could go up to domestic terrorism,” Lt. Jason Arnold said.
To help generate leads, the city is offering a $5,000 reward for information that leads to a conviction and successful prosecution. If you know anything about this case, you’re asked to call the Portland Police Department Criminal Investigation Division at 615-325-3434, ext. 770.
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