There was no wrecking ball to swing and no button to push as the 49-year-old, 30-metre high Eastglen Water Tower was de-constructed slowly over three days last week in a piece-by-piece operation.
Contractors used a high-reach mechanical excavator — one of only two in Canada — to begin chewing away at the concrete and rebar of the iconic Westlock water bearer Dec. 12 and continued doing so until the end of their shift on Dec. 14. A couple dozen feet remain, but demolition and clean-up will continue into this week.
The total $6.33 million water reservoir replacement project was tendered to Pomerleau Inc. for $4.41 million early in 2018 with $3.14 million coming from the Clean Water and Wastewater Fund, a federal grant, $1.7 million from the town’s capital reserves and $284,600 from the Westlock Regional Water Services Commission.
Engineering services, materials testing and utility servicing and relocations made up the difference. The municipality will borrow the remaining $1.2 million.
Pomerleau Supt. Brian Pavey has been in charge since breaking ground on the project in April.
He said he has worked on a number of municipal water projects in his 40-year construction career, so putting another one under his belt was just part of his job. He said the weather was the biggest problem they faced, causing several delays.
“The weather has been challenging. It never fails, as soon as we had our major excavation done, it promptly rained that weekend,” said Pavey.
The underground water reservoir construction is all but complete, with only technical issues to be worked out in the coming weeks with landscaping and returning the site back into a park to start next year.
Seeing the site returned to its historical usage is something very important to residents, said mayor Ralph Leriger.
“When we announced that we were replacing the water tower with underground storage we got a bunch of calls and by far the most important question asked was ‘Are you going to replace the tobogganing hill?’” he said. “It far outnumbered the rest of them.”
The park has been a social hub for decades and some will tell stories of their first friends, kisses, or other significant firsts in the shadow of the water tower. That park holds a place in the memories of many who grew up in Westlock.
“That hill was the best. It was like ‘Am I gonna make it down in one piece or am I gonna die?’ I have good memories of going when we were younger and taking the kids to sled or ride their bikes down it. I hope they build a great new hill there,” said Michelle Hartman.
Nearly every one who responded to the question on Facebook, echoed those comments and shared a memory or two.
“The hill was amazing,” said Robin Armstrong. “Free quality family time in the outdoors is exactly what every family needs. It didn’t look like much from afar but man you could boogie down on a tube. It was so much fun. I too hope that they build another hill once the work is complete.”
My younger sister and a couple of friends and I tried to go down the hill after it rained on a cardboard box and tried to “toboggan” down the muddiest part of it, needless to say it didn’t work and we got pretty muddy, but it was a blast anyway,” said Thamas Biggs.
Others remembered using it as an directional landmark to find their way around town.
“We lived across the street from the water tower for 35 years ... It always was an eyesore, but when we moved to Westlock I knew how to find my way home from school. I was in Grade 5,” said Melody Nelson.
