Eber’s water towers 2025

The leading trade journal in Sweden, VA-tidskriften Cirkulation has since 1998 an article series under the heading Ebers vattentorn (Eber’s water towers), where Eber Ohlsson with text and photo presents interesting water towers in the world (except Scania and Sweden). Below is a free translation to English of these texts.

Eber’s water towers in Cirkulation 1/2025

A free translation to English:

At the time when the railway was boiling water to power their steam engines, it needed a lot of water. Therefore got steam trains at certain intervals make a pause on their journey to fill the tanks with fresh water. A good way to do these operations fast was to store the water in the water tower. These did not, however, be as high as the towers for the needs of the society.

Such a railroad water tower in wood is still standing in the small town of Centralia in southern Illinois, USA. The town, which gets its name from its function as a railway junction, still fills a central role for the railway.

Published 2025-02-12

Eber’s water towers in Cirkulation 2/2025

A free translation to English:

It is the water level that is interesting when building a water tower, but you want to limit the water depth, so as not to get poor water circulation. It happens that the unused prospective building volume under the reservoir is planned for housing.

However, not all housing are planned, but sometimes spontaneous settlement occurs, such as the water tower in the northern Portuguese town of Alpalhão. According to a knowledgeable ornithologist, Common House Martin (Delichon urbicum) have built nests here. For an amateur, the thought goes easily to Swifts, now known as Common Swift (Apus apus). The swallows’ nests in the picture could otherwise perhaps be called nests for Water Tower Swallows.

Published 2025-03-19

Eber’s water towers in Cirkulation 3/2025

A free translation to English:

In the old Hanseatic city of Lübeck in Germany, there is a water tower, where the brick facade already tells of a composition in stages. The lower part of the water tower is the tower, which was completed in 1867 with a cast iron cylinder reservoir of about 1,000 m3 and a 25 m high standpipe.

Over time, a continuously higher water pressure was required, so the tower was strengthened and extended in 1890, so that it now became 30 m high and had an Intze reservoir of 2,100 m3. The lower part of the tower was rebuilt into a waterworks office and laboratory. Since 1927, with higher demands on water pressure, the tower has had the function of a leveling reservoir.

Published 2025-04-23