Mariajose Garza/THE RIDER
The University of Texas at Brownsville/Texas Southmost College water tower is currently being demolished after standing since the 1960’s because it has reached the end of its “useful life,” according to a Brownsville Public Utilities Board official.
“If we wanted to keep it, we [would] need to be doing maintenance every year; it [would] be very costly,” said Alexa Jaqueline Perez, division manager for Communications and Marketing at BPUB.
Melanie Rojas, a nutritional sciences junior at UTRGV, said she was unaware of the reason behind the tower’s demolition but, as a Brownsville resident, knows it has been there for a long time.
Perez said the tower was replaced by the newer-elevated tank built on Southmost Boulevard in 2023, which has a capacity of two million gallons, twice UTB/TSC tower’s one million.
The demolition began on Oct. 2 and was originally scheduled to last 45 days; however, according to Perez, it is now estimated to conclude by mid-December.
The closure of Ridgley Road is a safety procedure that BPUB has in place.
“The main priority of BPUB is always safety,” Perez said. “Before doing this demolition, we had a lot of meetings to ensure that we are meeting the safety standards.”
The division manager added she understands the community sentiment regarding the to-be-demolished tower.
“It is something that people have [seen] every time they cross the bridge from Matamoros to Brownsville,” she said.
The demolition of the tower ensures that residents have access to safe and reliable water, according to the division manager.
Brian Aranda, a senior graduate engineer at BPUB, said the purpose of a water tower, also known as an elevated storage tank, is to make sure water pressure is steady within the distribution system and is used during emergencies and high-demand seasons.
The land where the tower stands belongs to BPUB. The utilities company plans to keep it as an area to store materials needed for other future projects in the downtown Brownsville area, according to Perez.
