On Monday, June 8, Madison Water Utility will take down the Lake View Water Tower, which stands above Lake View Hill Park on Madison’s north side. Built in 1938 to supply water to patients and staff at Lake View Hill Sanatorium (now the Dane Co. Department of Human Services building), the tower has now reached the end of its useful life. It currently supplies water to a large portion of the Lake View Hill neighborhood, but with a capacity of just 55,000 gallons, it is too small to meet the neighborhood’s fire protection needs.
 
Madison Water Utility will replace the aging structure with a new water tower capable of holding 1.3 million gallons, providing water and fire protection not just to the immediate neighborhood, but to most of the north and east sides of Madison from the Yahara River to Cottage Grove Road.
 
Our design and engineering team has worked closely with the Friends of Lake View Hill Park to ensure that the park will be disturbed as little as possible during construction. The new tower will be the same height and occupy the same footprint as the original structure.
 
On Monday, work will begin at 7:00 a.m. to remove the existing tower. Crews will climb the tower and begin cutting the steel into 23 pieces, which will be lowered to the ground one at time by a crane. Work will be completed in one day, with the tank portion likely coming down in the morning between 7:30 and 9:00.