April 20th marked the official retirement of GUC’s Northside elevated water tank when contractors showed up around 5:30 a.m. to begin demolition. This 500,000-gallon steel tank, which reached just over 100 feet tall, was built in 1965. 

“The Northside tank hasn’t been tied directly into GUC’s distribution system since the early 1990’s when our two existing tanks were put in service,” said Water Treatment Plant Superintendent Julius Patrick. “There is an elevation difference between Northside and the other two, so it hasn’t been possible to use this tank with our existing tanks.”  

GUC did use the Northside tank for blending well water with distribution water in the early 2000’s, but it was no longer feasible to keep the system in operation due to groundwater withdrawal restrictions. 

Above is a time-lapse video of the tank demolition, which took approximately 15 hours.

*Drone photos courtesy of Greer Media Productions