Select a feature story: Complete List of Feature Stories Arsenic Removal Comes to Climax Austin Utilities Increases Capacity to Service Major Spam Producer Belgrade Avoids Arsenic with New Wells and Treatment Plant Biological Filtration Used in New Hutchinson Water Plant Blaine Deals with Water Issues with New Plants Burnsville Becomes First Metro System with On-Site Hypochlorite GenerationChanhassen Enhances Aesthetics of Water and Community Clara City Joins the Membrane Wave Cloquet Moves Forward with Manganese Removal Community Commitment Results in Innovative Water Plant in St. Martin Dying for a Drink? Eagan Fills Its Plates East Bethel Spurs Development with New Water Plant Eden Prairie Grows with Its Water System Eden Prairie Reservoir and Pumphouse to Replicate and Recognize History Ethanol Production Dependent on Water Fairmont Getting New Water Treatment Plant Freeborn and Hartland Collaborate for Shared Water System Haiti Outreach Promotes Water Independence Hastings Removes Nitrate with New Plant Highway 53 Rerouting Includes Impact on Virginia Water Supply Historic St. Paul Ballpark Leads to Information on Early Water Supply in City Joint Powers Water Board Brings Aquifer Storage Technology to Minnesota La Crescent Plant Knocks Down Radium Lakeville Water Plant Expands with Population Lewis & Clark Regional Water System Nearly Complete in Minnesota Lincoln-Pipestone Tackles Nitrate with New Reverse-Osmosis Plant Little Falls Continues Implementation of Wellhead Protection Plan A Look at Bottled Water A Look at the Other End A Look at Water Towers Madison Leads the Way Mankato Moves Ahead with Membranes Meeting the Need with Rural Water Metro Transit Helps Saints Save Water in New Ballpark Minneapolis Distribution Crews Maintain Critical Infrastructure Minneapolis Ready for Ultrafiltration Minneapolis Theater Focuses on Water in Series of Performances Minneapolis Water Reservoir Minnesota Systems Treat for Arsenic Minnesota Landscape Arboretum Combines Beauty and Brainpower Minnesota Twins Focus on Water Sustainability at Target Field Minnesota Water Operators Respond to the Floods of 1997 Mora Does More with Less New Brighton Cleans Up New Brighton Keeps on Pumping New Brighton Still Facing, Overcoming Water Challenges New Burnsville Plant Will Use Excess Quarry Water New Water Plant among Upgrades at Sandstone Correctional Institution Nonmunicipal Water Systems Notable St. Paul Reservoir Being Demolished and Replaced Oakdale and 3M Work Together to Remove Perfluorochemicals Owatonna Survives 2010 Flood, Raises Wells to Head Off Future Floods Plate Settlers Clean Up Ortonville Water Public Art St. Paul Promotes Water Awareness Pretty Pumphouses The Purest Water in Minnesota Red Wing Plants Serve Water across Varying Elevations Red Wing Residents Learn Job Skills while Maintaining Water System Rushford Responds to Flash Flood that Submerges City and Knocks Out Utilities Sabin to Get Demonstration Plant for Arsenic Reduction St. Louis Park Water Supply Remains Reliable Despite Challenges Saint Peter Adds Reverse Osmosis as Part of Expansion and Upgrade Schell's Starts with the Water Shoreview Thrives with New Water Treatment Plant Southern Minnesota Cities Turn to Innovative Methods: New Ulm and Lafayette Sustainability Key to Rochester Water Swede Hollow SWAMP Provides Training, Networking Experiences in Unique Setting Tackling the Challenges of a Region Taking on Surface Sources A Tower Grows in Minnetonka Virginia Gets an Upgrade Waite Park Uses Air Strippers to Restore “Lots and Lots” of Good Water Water Supply Around the World Water Voyage Wild Rink Starts with St. Paul Water Worthington Explores Lewis & Clark

A Look at Water Towers

Water Towers Serve as
Identifiers, Reminders, Landmarks

Quarterly Newsletter of the Minnesota Department of Health Public Water Supply Unit, Waterline

For many communities, a water tower is a part of its identity. Driving through the prairies of Minnesota, travelers are alerted to the coming of a town by the sight of a water tower poking up beyond the horizon.

Some cities are bolder with the identification they put on their water towers. The Barnum water tower proudly proclaims itself “Home of the Bombers,” and Buhl uses its tower to lay claim to “Finest Water in America.” The tower in Staples notes “100 Years of Progress” while the back side of the water tower in Sauk Centre serves as a reminder to its “Original Main Street.” Pequot Lakes needs no further words to inform visitors of its great fishing. Its water tower—with red on the bottom and white on the top—is in the shape of a bobber. An even different shape is the tea-kettle look of the tower in Lindström.

Even on conventionally shaped tanks, designs can be distinctive. Watertown lives up to its name with the bottom portion of the tower painted in the shape of waves. The cities of Sauk Rapids and Fosston took the effort to have their tower painted like a hot-air balloon. The city of Princeton also made the effort to make its tower a thing of beauty, with the letters of the town’s name reflected in a painting of a lake below the lettering.

Some towers, no longer storage vessels for water, still provide a historic function. The tower on the corner of Sixth and Washington—in the heart of Brainerd—was the first all-concrete elevated tank used by a municipality in the United States. It was widely pictured on postcards and maps and, even though it was drained in 1960 following construction of a new tower, is still the prominent feature in the city’s logo.

And, finally, some towers are now nothing more than fond memories. When Eveleth constructed a new tower next to the one it was replacing, the city identified the old one as Hot and the new one as Cold, prompting some visitors as well as residents to inquire if the city really had segregated its hot and cold water. The conundrums have come to a close, however, as the abandoned Hot tower was finally dismantled in the winter of 1996-97.

Where Are We!!?
It’s not just automobile travelers who count on water towers for their sense of direction. In 1960, a DC-3 carrying the Minneapolis Lakers basketball team drifted off course while bringing the team home from St. Louis. With electrical power gone and guidance instruments also disabled, pilot Vern Ullman buzzed a water tower in Carroll, Iowa in an attempt to find out where he was; alas, much of the town’s name was obliterated by snow, and all Ullman could make out were the letters “-L-L.” Fortunately, Ullman—still not knowing where was—was able to land the plane safely in an uncut cornfield.

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