Wonder how much water that Anoka Water Tower holds? This isn’t just any tower. It’s one of three water towers serving Anoka. The Anoka Water Tower at S. 5th Ave. & Adams St. is of the Multi Leg Wide Tank type.
Anoka is a city with a population that has grown. It had 17,142 residents in 2010. By 2020, that number increased to 17,830. This Anoka Water Tower was built in 1967. It can hold 500,000 gallons of water. The tower proudly displays “ANOKA – Home of the Tornadoes”.
Let’s talk about Anoka itself. It sits where the Rum and Mississippi rivers meet. This location made it perfect for the lumber industry long ago. Anoka officially became a city in 1878.
Anoka is part of the Twin Cities metro area now. It’s known as the Halloween capital. The city is also the hometown of famous people like Briana Scurry and Garrison Keillor.
Anoka feels like a small town. Yet it is close to a big city. That is according to Anoka’s director of public services, Mark Anderson. The city has been running its own water system for over 100 years.
The city first tapped the Rum River for its water. After a disease problem, Anoka dug two wells. A building was built for water and electric operations. Some parts of the old structure and wells still exist. Anoka now has four water treatment plants serving six wells. The wells are between 274 and 657 feet deep. They pull water from the Mt. Simon and Mt. Simon-Hinckley aquifers.
All water plants use pressure filters. These filters use silica and anthracite. They remove iron, manganese, and radium. Three wells had radium issues. The city had a compliance agreement with the Minnesota Department of Health for a while.
The city reduced the radium by adding hydrous manganese oxide or HMO. John Thom of SEH, Inc. explained that radium is easy to remove. You raise the manganese level. The radium attaches to the manganese. Then you take it out.
Blending is also used to treat the water. Wells 6 and 8 are near a plant that was expanded. The expansion included two more pressure filters. This doubled the plant’s capacity. A lab, chemical-feed room, office, and restroom were added. The utility switched from gas to liquid chlorine, too. Water superintendent Pete Klingenberg said this was safer with the high school next door.
The expansion’s footprint is much larger than the original plant. The ceiling is higher now. This makes maintenance easier. Donny Roseth, the facility’s main operator, said it was tight before with not much extra room.
Brian Noma of the Minnesota Department of Health commended the city. He noted they were proactive in planning for the future. The $6.9 million expansion was financed through bonding. The effluent now goes up and out, making it easier to connect with the new filters.
Anderson said the expansion increases their ability to treat water. It will meet the city’s growth for the next 10 years. This will be their main plant. They still have other wells but this will do their heavy lifting. The original water treatment facility opened in 1889. It now sits unused on the Rum River.
So, the next time you see the Anoka Water Tower, remember it’s more than just a landmark. It’s a symbol of Anoka’s growth, independence, and commitment to providing clean, safe water to its residents.