World’s Tallest Water Sphere Title Safe for Now
It had been suggested in a recent Star Ledger newspaper article that a water tower in North Carolina, at 219 feet, had usurped the title of “World’s Tallest Water Sphere”.
While this blog and its author expressed admiration for the water tower in Erwin, it still remained to be seen at the time of the interview whether the tower was a water sphere or something else. Most companies have abandoned the manufacture of water spheres for various reasons. The Star Ledger article cited the manufacturer’s use of the word “hydrosphere” as a possible competitor. Colloquial use of hydro sphere, water sphere, or water tower made this issue somewhat opaque.
Recently, Steve Tysinger’s Panoramio feed featured a photograph of the Erwin, NC water tower, and the facts became clear. As one can see in the photo, the Harnett Country water tower is very nice, but it is not a water sphere. You can see from the squashed pillow profile, that the top of the tower is in fact a spheroid, symmetrical in east and west axes, but less pronounced in bottom to top axis.
It is a beautiful tower and a very good photograph. However, the World’s Tallest Water Sphere still resides in Union, New Jersey.