LUBBOCK Texas — As the city continues its first week of demolishing the water tank off of 50th Street near Indiana Avenue, one woman reminisces about the fond memories she has of the tower.
Growing up in Lubbock, Marti Dillon said she’s sad the tower is being demolished.
“My mom had big trees in her yard and my brother and I would climb up the tree and say, ‘There’s the water tower,” she said. “I mean it’s kind of the end of an era.”
As a bird lover, Dillon said she is concerned that the tearing down of the tower will affect birds migrating through the area.
“They roost on that dang thing,” she said. “I usually sit in my back yard with my binoculars and check out red tail hawks and golden eagles and all kinds of falcons, all kinds of really cool birds.”
However, she said she welcomes the new water tank that the city will build in its place.
“It’ll be sad to see that one go, but you know here’s to the future and hopefully it will be very effective and efficient and save us some money,” she said.
Michael Keenum, City of Lubbock engineer, said the city plans to build five new water towers around the city to keep up with the demand of Lubbock’s growing population and that it will save the city money on energy.
“What these elevated tanks do is better regulate the pressure of coming out of your faucet throughout the city,” he said. “Today we maintain the pressure by pumping around the city. The elevated tanks provide that more stable pressure.”
