Garland has several ground-level water storage tanks, all with greater capacity than elevated tanks. We've long had an old, small elevated tank on Forest but only until recently did we add another elevated tank, this time near the intersection of SH-66 and Country Club. Additional information on the tank was posted previously before the tank was raised to the top of the column, as shown at that post.   A strong advantage of the elevated tank is constant water pressure and a primary reason for this tank at this location. With the ground-level tanks, pressure is maintained by pumps and will change when pumps cycle on or off.   Another advantage built into most new elevated tanks, including this one, is the ability to mount communication antennas to the tank, especially those of private wireless carriers. The carriers benefit from being able to use an existing structure and cities benefit from lease payments.   Click the graphic to see inside a typical elevated tank. Some might be surprised to learn that the column holds no water. Also, the top of the tank can be accessed for maintenance by climbing through the middle of the water tank at the top.   The following information was recently shared with the Council:

City of Garland Dedicates New Elevated Water Storage Tank

July 22, 2010—The City of Garland Water Utilities today dedicated its recently completed 2.5 million gallon capacity elevated water storage tank, the first of its type in the city. Rising 220 feet from its Commerce Street location, the tank was necessary to meet the public water system capacity requirements mandated by the TCEQ (Texas Commission on Environmental Quality). The additional storage will also help maintain optimum system pressure year-round to residential and commercial customers in the east pressure plane, and provide cost and energy savings to the city by reducing the amount of pumping and pumping changes required to meet system demands.
 
Landmark Structures of Fort Worth served as general contractor on the project, and Birkhoff, Hendricks & Carter, LLP was consulting engineer.
 
About composite elevated tanks...
Elevated tanks utilize the power of gravity rather than pumps to help provide and regulate water pressure within the system, and add capacity to cover peak demand periods as well as emergency requirements. Storage capacity is dictated by water system design and supply, as well as the number of households served. The new 2.5 million gallon Garland tank, for example, can hold the equivalent of 3.8 Olympic-size swimming pools, and supports that weight on its extremely strong, maintenance-free reinforced concrete pedestal. This configuration, called a Composite Elevated Tank (combining a concrete support structure and welded steel tank) is the most popular version for large capacity elevated storage (tanks of 500,000 gallon capacity and greater).
 

 
Garland has had other elevated tanks though. One was downtown and can be seen here near the old power plant building.