The city of Holtville excited to have their new high capacity water tank online.

Council members say it has been a 20 year project and they got help from the government because of the devastating earthquake two years ago.

"This was an important milestone for us. We went from the tank you see in the background which was a 50 thousand gallon tank to as of now three million gallons," Holtville Mayor Jerry Brittsan said.

Council members officially cranked up the new tank. This new water tank replaces the tank damaged in the 2010 earthquake.

"It was devastating but now we can thank God that we got the two million gallon tank before the other one failed," Brittsan said.

"We’re very excited to have this plant online today because it’s three and a half million gallons of water capacity for the residence of Holtville. We’re going to provide safe and affordable drinking water for all of our residents," City Manager Alex Meyerhoff said.

This launches many other projects for Holtiville. They’re looking toward building more houses, more parks and recreation areas for the city.

"In Holtville, we’re working on all of our infrastructure. We’re working on our water, we’re working on our wastewater our sewer out fall mains. We’re building infrastructure for the next generation," Meyerhoff said.

This has all been made possible by FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

FEMA has also included a UV filtration unit that uses light to clean the three and a half million gallons of water.

"This provides additional capacity. It provides about three days of drinking water for the community," Meyerhoff said.