Shelley Hiam
The Austin skyline's changing rapidly, but who'd have thought the water tower at 51st Street would be joining its ranks? The tower, part of Austin Water's reclaimed-water effort, is an unlikely landmark, but when flying into Austin-Bergstrom at night, its ring of red lights at the top is one of the city's first visible icons. Airborne, you have a better view of the 48 photovoltaic panels powering the 170-million gallon tower, not to mention its scaffoldinglike design and the tank's slo-mo swoosh. Designed to deliver reclaimed water to Mueller, UT, and beyond for irrigation, cooling and more, it's 99% complete and will plug into campus at the first of the year – but it's already making an impact.
