GUILDERLAND — The old depot water tower is no more.

The tower was dismantled and removed last week because it wasn’t worth repairing and didn’t work well with the town’s current water system, said William West, Guilderland’s superintendent for water and wastewater management.

The tower, with a half-million-gallon tank, was erected when the Army depot was built in 1941, West said. In the 1960’s, when the Army was scaling back its depots during the Cold War, it offered land at Guilderland Center first to the federal government, then to the state, and finally to the town, said West.
"We own parcels in the park," West said. This includes the land where the tower stood, as well as a section of the building with a treatment plant, a pump station, and land for training firefighters.
"The town didn’t want to be a landlord," he said. "The rest was turned over to private concerns, so taxes would be paid on it."

The Northeastern Industrial Park now occupies most of the land that once belonged to the Army.

The depot water tank was first used to supplement the Westmere Water District. It was kept in service until 2002, West said.

The town currently has three tanks — elevated tanks at Fort Hunter and Westmere, and a tank on the ground off Relyea Road. The on-the-ground tank sits on a knob, said West, so it is at the same level as the tanks that are supported by legs. When the Relyea tank was completed in 2002, the depot tank went off line, said West.
West explained the several functions served by water tanks. The tanks hold enough water to cover average use for 24 hours, which allows for repairs. They provide fire protection, and they provide pressure. The water in the tanks has to be changed every 24 to 36 hours, said West, to avoid creating "a biological hazard."
"The other tanks all draw together." Referring to just the depot tank, he went on, "The other tanks would have to get half empty for this one to drain."
A diver went inside the Westmere and depot tanks, said West, and determined the Westmere tank needed to be repainted, which was done. The depot tank needed painting, too, but it would have been far more costly, he said. "Lead paint was used, so there were environmental issues. The legs would have to be sandblasted."

West estimated the repairs would have cost $1 million.
"It would be cheaper to build a new tank, but we don’t need a new tank," said West. "We have a new tank at the right elevation."
The depot tank was removed by All Industrial Service, an Ohio-based company, and the lowest bidder for the job. It cost $31,868 to have the tank dismantled and removed. "They get to keep the steel," said West. It was the 130th tank All Industrial had removed, he said.
"It’s a piece of history," West said. "One resident said she’ll miss it."

Jane Dwyer, who has lived on Depot Road since 1955, told The Enterprise she would look out her bedroom window at it every morning. She particularly enjoyed seeing what slogans the senior class from nearby Guilderland High School would paint on the tower each year.
"I feel lonesome without it," Dwyer said this week.