EVERETT — One of Everett’s municipal water tanks was dismantled this week.
The 4-million-gallon tank had not been in use for years. It was built in 1966 and has been standing empty since 2008.
On the site the city calls Reservoir Six, off Casino Road just east of the Walter Hall Golf Course, there are two 10-million-gallon reservoirs and a 2-million-gallon tower, which replaced the older tower.
The site is one of three in the city that hold the city’s drinking water after it is piped in from the Spada Lake reservoir and treated at the city’s filtration plant.
The old steel tank near the south end of the property once stood 107 feet high and was 86 feet in diameter.
Taking it down is a noisy business.
Work crews from the city’s contractor, Staton Companies of Portland, used cutting torches on the upper reaches of the tower to slice away pieces of steel, which collapsed into the empty tank, said Don Snyder, the city’s construction inspector on the site.
By Thursday, the tower had been reduced to about 30 feet high.
The crews used two excavators with cutting shear attachments to dismantle the remains, one ribbon of inch-thick steel at a time.
The excavators tear into and twist the strips into rolls, like birds of prey sharing a kill.
“They tear it out, roll it up like a burrito and haul it out,” Snyder said.
The demolition will last approximately two more weeks, Snyder said.
Soon the crews will use cutting torches on the thicker metal near the base, which will be somewhat quieter work, he added.
But then the workers will have to jackhammer the concrete floor of the tower before they’re done.
Marla Carter, of Everett’s Public Works department, said the tower demolition is one phase of the $5.3 million project. The city also is replacing the roofs on two adjacent reservoir buildings, with work expected to be done by June.
Chris Winters: 425-374-4165; cwinters@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @Chris_At_Herald.
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