Water Tower Supporters Say It's a Manassas Landmark

Manassas City Council will hold a public hearing at 7:30 p.m. Monday on the proposed destruction of the municipal water tower in downtown Manassas.

The city's Water and Sewer Department says the tower is inefficient, costs too much to maintain and on land eyed for use by the neighboring fire station.

But supporters hoping to preserve the tower have created a Facebook group with more than 600 members. They argue the tower is an iconic symbol of Manassas.

"It is a very significant historic resource and prominent visually distinctive landmark, and could easily be made a tourism and economic development resource as well," writes Steve Hersch at Save the Old Town Manassas Water Tower.

In a Washington Post report, city staff offered numbers on the tower's maintenance:

• the annual cost of keeping the tower in use ranges from $8,000 to $10,000, and it needs repainted, costing $90,000.
• the tower holds only 75,000 gallons of water of the water systems 4.5 million gallons.