West Hempstead’s iconic but obsolete water tower, a landmark for over 80 years, is set to be slowly dismantled in coming weeks following its replacement in 2020.
Work is currently underway to disconnect the 225-foot, 750,000-gallon tower’s underground plumbing, and within the next few weeks residents should see the tower slowly disappear from the sky, piece by piece. The process should take until April. The tower has stood at the West Hempstead Water District’s Birch Street facility, alongside the LIRR tracks and the Southern State Parkway, since 1939.
A team from demolition specialists Gramercy Group has already begun cutting “test holes” to begin the process, said West Hempstead Water District Superintendent Jason Belle.
“They will start at the top, cut small pieces from the interior and lower them by crane into dumpsters,” Belle told the Echo.
While other such structures have been taken down in a single event with explosives, West Hempstead’s tower is situated too close to residential homes, he said.
The property vacated by the tower will remain empty, in the shadow of the new 215-foot, $6.9 million state-of-the-art, composite-concrete pedestal, steel-welded bowl elevated storage tank. The new tank has a capacity of 1,000,000 gallons of water, and was constructed from 2018-2020.
The old tower was expected to last about 80 years and could no longer be run efficiently, according to the water district, whose infrastructure includes over 125 miles of water mains and 579 fire hydrants.
“The new water tank is much easier to maintain, greatly resilient and up for the challenge to meet the peak water supply demands for the summer season,” according to the District web site. “It also meets and exceeds today’s stringent safety and structural standards, while ensuring District consumers will continue to receive an uninterrupted supply of the highest quality water possible.
The District encompasses approximately two square miles, including a majority of West Hempstead, all of Garden City South and a large portion of Franklin Square, serving over 32,000 people.
