100-year-old water tanks still sharing sweet H2O

Steel water tanks; the longtime standard of our nation’s drinking water storage and oftentimes a community’s landmark structure; announcing the town name or even showing off local high school mascots. When these structures are properly designed and maintained, they can and have provided a service life in excess of 100 years.

The Steel Tank Institute/Steel Plate Fabricators Association has a special award noting old water tanks that exceed the century mark. Pictured here is a tank built in 1907 in Greenwood Mississippi by one of our largest clients, Caldwell Tanks, that is still used for storing potable water:

In a time when fast food restaurants are built almost overnight and life expectancy tables only run 40 years “because that’s how long it takes to finance,” it is refreshing to know that water tanks that could last 100+ years are being built everyday. When good design, quality workmanship, scheduled maintenance and good old fashioned ingenuity are used in conjunction, a steel water tank built today can last well into the 22nd century!

Davies Hood, EVP, Induron Coatings

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