Community Corner
Could More Water Towers Be Coming To The St. Louis Region?
A document from Missouri American Water indicates that water towers could be built across the St. Louis region.
February 24, 2021
A document from Missouri American Water indicates that water towers could be built across the St. Louis region, to replace aging ground water tanks. The news comes a little less than a month after Sunset Hills residents voiced concerns about a proposed water tower with a 1.5 million gallon tank. Missouri American Water told News 4 the size is necessary for meeting demand in the surrounding area. The plan is spelled out in a five-page fact sheet the utility put out. However, the last paragraph of the document leads to more questions that could impact residents across the St. Louis area. It reads, "While many of Missouri American's current tank sites within the St. Louis County area are ground storage tanks, several are being evaluated to be replaced with elevated storage tanks." However, Missouri American Water said something different to News 4 when asked about their plans. "At this time, we have not made any plans or targeted any areas to replace ground tanks with elevated tanks," said Missouri American Water Engineering Manager Derek Linam. The comment is not in line with what was told to Sunset Hills residents, and now, some homeowners tell News 4 they don't know if they can trust Missouri American Water. "Maybe the statement was a little aggressive in saying we were evaluating them all like we are doing it immediately, it's really more of a long-term thing. We are going to evaluate our system everywhere and we're not just trying to single out Sunset Hills," Linam said. Missouri American Water does not expect any other big towers similar to the one proposed in Sunset Hills to be built anytime soon. Linam added that ground tanks are more expensive to operate because they require additional pumps.
