I’ve been meaning to include these in the newsletter ever since
Warren Liebold sent us a make your own Brooklyn water tower kit a couple of years ago which now has pride of place in the ech2o office… I assumed they were decommissioned but was completely wrong about that as they are very much still in use. Most medium rise blocks of flats (i.e. over 6 stories tall) will have them. The one pictured is metal but most are wood as it is a better insulator (important to help prevent freezing during New York’s severe winters) and wooden towers are cheaper to build. They hold approximately 38,000 litres of water and last for about 30 years before needing to be replaced.
The iconic Brooklyn water towers – USA – ech2o newsletter snippet