Demolition started on damaged old water tower in West Carrollton
Demolition has begun on an old damaged water tower in West Carrollton.
This comes a week after semi slammed into the bottom of the water tower on E. Central Avenue and S. Elm Street.
>> PHOTOS: Demolition begins on damaged old water tower in West Carrollton
Dick Fultz, who lives near the water tower, came to watch the demolition Wednesday morning.
“This is the best of small-town entertainment,” Fultz said.
Fultz said he wasn’t surprised when he found out the water tower would be coming down.
“After the semi hit it I knew it was scheduled to come down anyway,” Fultz said. “So I figured it might be damaged, so they had to get it down as soon as possible.”
The city said it would cost about $4,500 to tear down the heavily damaged, decommissioned 100,000-gallon water tower.
It would have cost over $400,000 to repair the tower, not including ongoing maintenance costs.
>> PHOTOS: Semi runs into water tower in West Carrollton
The city added that the tower was also rusting from the inside out.
The water tower was built in the 1930s for the paper plant that used to sit on the corner of Central and Elm, according to the city.
At one time, the water tower carried raw water to the manufacturing plant to produce paper and was never part of the city’s water system.
The city added that it never owned the tower and hired an inspector to determine its feasibility and cost to repair it.
