What's with all the ugly water towers?

[brattpowered]

Originally Posted by HappyTexan

Ugly ? Ulgy ? Why I think they are so "Texas"

Exactly

[Runemaster]

I like 'em. They have a certain charm to them that makes me think of the good old days of the 50s-early 70s. Not to mention they're great landmarks.

[J1ndo]

Originally Posted by Mdlx

This one off 620 is actually pretty nice

That lighthouse-looking thing is a water tower? Cool! I guess that is one answer to the question of how to make them more aesthetically pleasing.

[thesonofgray]

Since many people seem to have a cursory interest in elevated water storage tanks (EST), here's my stab at a very general EST 101, just in case anyone wanted to know more about about those big balls of water looming over your head...

EST's come in 3 basic designs: multi-column (far right in image below), pedisphere or spheriod (second to right), and the composite/fluted colum (two left designs). The style chosen largely depends on the size of the tank being built, since some styles are more economical as you get smaller or larger in size. But other factors like aesthetic preference and geographic location also determine the tank style.


(image excerpted from Caldwell Tank promo material)

As far as design goes, the stem or support or column (the vertical part of the tank that has many different names) typically contains only an inflow/outflow pipe, overflow pipe, and access ladder. The actual tank is confined to the 'bulb' at the top. But these tanks have almost infinite designs, e.g. I've seen one EST where the stem was extra-wide and contained office and storage space in addition to the typical pipes and access ladders.

EST's can vary quite a bit in capacity, but the most common sizes seen in developed areas range between half a million to 2 million gallons of water. That is the MAX capacity of the tank, but the actual water level in the tank is almost constantly varying.

For a typical municipal EST, a water treatment plant will pump water into the distribution system continuously. When there is low demand, such as in the middle of the night, much of this water being produced by the treatment plant will pump into the EST. During higher demand period, such as in the morning and evening, demand in the system will be greater than what the treatment plant is producing, so some of the water stored in the EST drains back into the distribution system and to your faucets, showers, etc. This is basically a continuous cycling process. Fire and other heavy water demand events rely on EST's to provide adequate pressure and supply in a (hopefully) short, high demand period.

EST's can cost anywhere from a few hundred thousand to tens of millions of dollars. In my experience, the major tank contractors in Texas are Landmark Structures, CB&I, Caldwell Tanks, Phoenix Fabricators, and a few others that slip my mind at the moment. Each tank contractor typically has a range of sizes and styles that they compete for. For example, CB&I takes pride in the fact that they basically developed the modern 'pedisphere' style tank we see everywhere, whereas Landmark perfected and is known for their composite tank.

So...now you know.

And knowing is half the battle!

[thesonofgray]

Landmark built the composite EST in front of Cabela's in Buda and they are currently finishing up the new EST in east Austin. See it at this link: Landmark Structures - Builders of Composite Elevated Water Storage Towers (http://www.teamlandmark.com/water_storage/ws_special_interest - broken link)

CB&I link: CB&I : Waterspheroids®

Phoenix link: Phoenix Fabricators & Erectors : Image Gallery

Caldwell link: Caldwell Tanks - Tank Styles (http://www.caldwelltanks.com/tanks/tank_styles.htm - broken link)

[NY Annie]

Originally Posted by J1ndo

You didn't really laugh out loud at your monitor, did you? That'd be the first time I ever made anyone laugh about something as pedestrian as a hill top water tank.

Actually, I let out a chuckle. I had a vision of the town (big enough to be a city) in NJ where I grew up, kicking out a bunch of stores on the main avenue just to put water tanks (the main avenue was the "ridge" of a small hill). The closest water tank I saw was down the shore in Jersey.

As a kid, I thought those water tanks out in the country were for putting out fires. I knew our water came from a reservoir upstate where it was pumped - it was across from a farm stand where my grandmother used to take us to pick out our halloween pumpkins.

So yeah, it was a chuckle comparing your lack of understanding of cities with my remembered naivete at country water tanks.

[J1ndo]

Originally Posted by NY Annie

So yeah, it was a chuckle comparing your lack of understanding of cities with my remembered naivete at country water tanks.

Well, heck, I want to laugh at my lack of understanding too! Enlighten me as to my lack of understanding of cities when it comes to water pressure.

Remember, you're the one imagining that, because I said hilltops are often used as water towers, that I meant every single hill in a town will be used for that purpose. I want to take credit for making you laugh, but you thought that silly image up yourself.

[texasdiver]

The reason we have water tanks in Texas is because we don't have enough hills.

Where I grew up in Oregon there was no need to build water tanks because there are plenty of hills surrounding every town and it is simpler to build large reservoirs on the hills. The city of Portland, for example, has water reservoirs stashed all over the place on the tops of hills. I lived near a big reservoir on top of Mt. Tabor in SE Portland.

Here in Texas, hills are much more rare, and where they do exist, they are so desired that people snatch them up for the view property. All the nice hilltops in west Austin are prime real estate. Although I think there is a city reservoir on top of Mt. Bonnell.

[thesonofgray]

Originally Posted by texasdiver

Here in Texas, hills are much more rare, and where they do exist, they are so desired that people snatch them up for the view property. All the nice hilltops in west Austin are prime real estate. Although I think there is a city reservoir on top of Mt. Bonnell.

The ginormous water storage tank at Mopac and Shoreline Drive in north Austin is essentially at the top of a large hill. When conditions allow (economic and otherwise), higher elevations are the obvious place to store water, just like low elevations are the obvious place to put a wastewater treatment plant.

And for the large majority of small to medium sized municipalities and water suppliers, EST's and other storage tanks are an integral component of their water distribution system.

[absolutely]

Originally Posted by thesonofgray

We already do, to the extent budgets allow.

If you don't like the results, then offer up your own suggestions.

there are several "out of the box" ideas that government agencies are notorious for avoiding. one idea off the top of my head would be to allow local artists to paint the towers for non-profit.

this of course would be based on the artists interest in heights. to avoid legal recourse, the painter would be required to sign a safety waiver, in case they fell and became injured...or dead. i'm quite sure you'd find a capable illustrator or painter in austin who would be willing to work for free, if their art was on a flippin water tower. if the tower was painted for free, the only remaining cost would be that of a crane rental, operators fee, abd paint/materials. i'm sure even those particular costs could be avoided by the city, if thought out creatively.

you could also allow graphic designers to create designs that could be printed on an appropriate material to attach to the tower without damage. however, you would be more limited to the tower shape, than you would with a freehand painter. both of these methods could also be used to simply allow the tower to blend in with the background. i.e. clouds, blue sky, trees, etc.

another idea would be to attach items to the tower to give it a different look. steampunk comes to mind as an interesting approach.

i'm sure there are many further ideas, if given even an ounce of thought to aesthetics. however an "ounce of thought" is one ounce less than nearly any local or county government is capable of providing in this regard.

here are some decent ideas:

http://photopostsblog.com/wp-content...r-towers12.jpg

http://photopostsblog.com/wp-content...r-towers14.jpg

http://photopostsblog.com/wp-content...r-towers28.jpg