Workers are expected to begin constructing a 150-foot tall water tower this summer along Route 3 in the town of Watertown.

The Town Council gave the green light for Statewide Aqua Store to begin building the 250,000-gallon tower behind the New Hope Baptist Church, 19983 Route 3, at a meeting Thursday.

The East Syracuse company will construct a low-quality service road to the tower's location, on the hill roughly 600 feet behind the church.

The tower is expected to boost flows along the western fringe of the town, including along new County Route 202. The thoroughfare is scheduled to be paved by the end of summer and will connect routes 3 and 12F.

"It will certainly help expand fire protection and offer a constant water supply for the residents," Supervisor Joel R. Bartlett said.

While the town has plans to construct the new tower, an aging tower along Fisher Road in the Jefferson County Industrial Park will remain unused.

Last winter, town officials mulled restoring the water tower that was decommissioned in 1988 after an overflow pipe froze and broke, creating fears that the whole tower could be damaged.

Councilman Edward R. Smith said that restoring the old tower was unneeded.

"What do we need two towers in that part of the town for?" he said.

While refurbishing the old tower would only cost about $250,000, it will not provide proper fire protection for the Route 3 corridor and Route 202, the supervisor said.

Mr. Bartlett said the money saved by not refurbishing the old tower will probably be put toward installing mains along routes 3 and 202. Those plans have not been formalized yet.

Mickey G. Lehman, vice president of Bernier, Carr & Associates, said that installing mains that connect the new tower to existing water infrastructure along Route 3 is the next phase of the tower project. The tower will likely be commissioned next spring.

Mr. Bartlett said the Route 3 tower will also meet increased demand in the future.

No plans for development have come forward concerning Route 202, but town and county officials have suggested that the connector will be filled with shops and homes within a few years of its completion.

That development will be serviced by the water new water tower and connecting mains.

"It would be a second phase for the project," Mr. Bartlett said. "I'd like to see it included."