New water tower planned in Albert Lea

(ABC 6 News) – If you live in Albert Lea, you know about the water tower right in the center of the city.

Well, now Albert Lea City Officials voted to demolish it and build a new water tower in its place.

The water tower will be demolished in September and the new water tower will be 40 feet taller than the current tower making the total height of the tower 175 feet. The new water tower is expected to be in the same spot by September of 2023.

The project will cost $6.9 million dollars.

The city has been wanting to get rid of the tower for more than a decade, but when the pandemic started, the planning phase became more difficult and was pushed back.

City leaders say this new tower is important now more than ever.

“It’s 40 feet below the other towers so it really doesn’t provide that much support or pressure into the system as it should. So that way we really do have a system with adequate service and redundancy for protection,” Albert Lea City Manager Ian Rigg said.

The design of the new water tower could be designed by local artists and local artist renderings for a new design will be shared with the city council in the coming weeks.

Ian Rigg says the project will be paid for with water utility rates.

Ian Rigg says rates will go up and the tower in total will add about two percent a year for five years and will trail off at that point.