The World's Tallest Water Sphere

This heavenly alignment of the World’s Tallest Water Sphere and the Sun was photographed and submitted by reader Brian Donahue in February of 2010. The photo is taken from Route 78 in the Hillside area looking west.

As several readers have mentioned, there is an alignment of Sphere and Sun during two moments during the year when the Sun’s elliptical declination aligns perfectly behind the water tower. Can other readers guess what these dates are and the significance to the builders? One clue is that this photo taken in February is close to the date but not precisely aligned. Another clue is that there has been one moment in time when the Sun has been eclipsed by the Moon and the Moon has been eclipsed by the World’s Tallest Water Sphere.

This gravity defying action shot of the World’s Tallest Water Sphere was taken recently from a speeding automobile traveling north on the Garden State Parkway. Thanks to Gina Signorella-Arlen who enlisted the help of her family in capturing this shot safely while navigating crowded swarms of swerving New Jersey drivers attempting to perform the same maneuver.

This is the terrifying image that millions witness every day. I love the color, the clouds, and the trees in this photo. Imagine the tension and fear that viewers might experience as they are driving along the New Jersey highways and seeing the World’s Tallest Water Sphere for the first time.

“A steel tower appears on the horizon. Interesting, perhaps a water tower. That’s odd. It is the tallest water tower I have ever seen. It looks nearly white, and yet it blocks the sun behind it.

Now I am at its base. It reaches upwards scraping the cold gray sky. Unbowed, it is too big for my windshield. It utterly fills my field of view. I cannot avert my eyes or I will crash. I see its perspiring welded seams, the beaconed head, the oxidized iron bubbling through the paint. I see the veinous wires crawling up its neck. With spiked collars around its neck, it appears to be leaning over the roadway. Is it about to pounce? It will crush us all if it falls. In the fell clutch of circumstance! Black as the pit from pole to pole!”

Happy New Year to all from the World’s Tallest Water Sphere. A prosperous 2010 to all our reader.

Our intrepid reporters had a chance to visit the World’s Tallest Water Sphere and take some photos. We will file a report soon. In the mean time, here is a preview photo of a lovely day at the site.

The sky is clear and blue. The Kahwamee swamp is reedy and cold. The water tower looms over all, watching from behind the trees. This photo was taken on December 29th, 2009. The air temp was about 22 degrees and there were high gusty winds making the wavelets on the water.

The Portland Water Bureau has written a blog article on this site. It is interesting to see various water companies and municipal water works tracking and linking to this site. Thanks to author Jennie Day-Burget of Blogtella for writing the nice article.

The Portland Water Bureau motto is “From Forest to Faucet”. The Union Township municipal water does not come from a forest. It comes from wells drilled into the Kahwamee swamp. It is pumped and processed in a local treatment plant and stored in the World’s Tallest Water Sphere.

Perhaps Union residents can have a similar motto as well. “From Swamp to Sink” or “From Kahwamee to Kraphole” are two that come to mind. What are your ideas? Got any catchy subtitles for the World’s Tallest Water Sphere water?

This photo depicts the World’s Tallest Water Sphere from the “Blue Era”. Photo taken in December of 1991. It also is the photo used for the header logo of this site.

Scientists at the World’s Tallest Water Sphere Research Center in Austin, Texas have determined the extent of damage possible to the World’s Tallest Water Sphere in the event of massive flooding. As many people know, the level of the oceans is rising due to global warming and the melting of polar ice caps. As the ice caps melt, the coast recedes, the shore advances, and what was once land becomes submerged. Pretty soon the Watchung Mountains become prime beachfront property. Using NASA satellite data and Firetree Google Maps, one can analyze the effect.

The animated map to the right shows the extent of flooding that might damage the World’s Tallest Water Sphere. (Turn on browser images and animation to see the horrible consequences). To the left of the photo lies Kawameeh Park, site of the WTWS. To the center, lies Kean University, home of the Cougars (and they ain’t talking about cats, baby, yeah!) To the right lies Newark Liberty Airport.

At 3 meters rise, most of the Newark Ironbound district and the airport is under water, signified by the blue shading to the right. At 6 meters, sea water has covered Weequahic Park and starts to enter downtown Elizabeth. Route 22 and 78 and the New Jersey Turnpike by the airport is open to boat traffic. At 9 meters Elizabeth goes under, and Kawameeh swamp floods into a lake. At 12 meters and then 14 meters, Kean University becomes beach front property. Thankfully, the World’s Tallest Water Sphere appears to be safe at this level. Union residents will likely have an uninterrupted supply of clean drinking water, and toilets will continue to flush all but the biggest piles of excrement.

While we are talking scientifically here, the next research project for the World’s Tallest Water Sphere Research Center is why New Jerseyans say the Jersey Shore rather than the Jersey Coast. As any sea dog knows, the shore is the landward limit of the sea, and the coast is the seaward limit of the land. Unless most Jerseyans are expressing their love for the ocean and that strip of beach that exists between high and low tide (you know, the part that gets all the seaweed, sand dollars, and prehistoric horseshoe crabs), the New Jersey part with all the boardwalks, casinos, rides, games, beer and pizza would be the Jersey coast.

Gina Arlen contributes this rather unique set of sightings:

Which one gives you nightmares?

There are many artists that visit the World’s Tallest Water Sphere site. They make beautiful photographs, computer images, and artwork and contribute it to the site for all the world to see. Most of us gaze in awe at the wonderful creations they make that inspire us and give us hope for humankind, just as did the original inception, development, and construction of the World’s Tallest Water Sphere. Hooray for fresh clean drinking water at acceptable water pressure levels! Hooray for inspiring artists!

This article will teach other visitors how to create other similar artistic images. Click on any image for a larger view. By following the simple guidelines, perhaps printing off a few of the images as a staring point, everyone can create inspiring works of art based on the World’s Tallest Water Sphere. Use this photo or any other photo from this site as a model. Or visit the WTWS in person and create a new image. Inspire others as you inspire yourself.

To begin, grab some artistic tools. You will need some paper and pencils, fabric and ink pens, canvas and paints, paper and scissors, or other art media. For this exercise, I used paper and some color pencils I bought at the corner drug store.

The first step is to make a general outline shape of the WTWS. The top is sphere and likely will be the focal point of your drawing. Then draw the neck, a column leading from the sphere to the ground. The bottom of the WTWS has a conical support base. Underneath the top there is also a bit of a cone to support the crowning sphere. This drawing shows the beginning of my artwork.

The next step is to color in your water sphere with the basic colors. You can use authentic color schemes, try some new colors to propose to Union residents, or make any colors to free your mind. There are no right or wrong colors. The actual colors change with the seasons and the day to night lighting. Your perception of the colors change with your mood and your feelings. Feel free to experiment.

Consider where the light source is in your image. Since the WTWS is shiny, the side of the WTWS nearest the light probably is the lightest color. The side away from the light is probably the darkest color. Add shading colors to the dark side of the sphere. Here my drawing is slightly blue turquoise. I have also adding the proud Union lettering that announces to all the world the fine people who have conceived and built this inspiration.

Don’t forget the day-to-day function of the World’s Tallest Water Sphere. Not only does it provide water, it also serves as a calling card for the Township of Union. It functions as a cell phone tower for millions of mobile phone calls per month. And it acts as a navigation point both in the day and, now with its new red beacon, during the darkest nightmare-filled nights. When you are afraid of the dark and the monsters that roam within your deepest dreams, the WTWS with its flashing beacon will be there.

Add some of the modern features to your WTWS image. This drawing now contains the cell phone antennas, maintenance wires and doorways, and the red flashing top beacon. Also, since the beginning, the WTWS has had two upper neck halos. Some say these halos are for maintenance. Other say these broadcast the message that all Union residents must follow.

Now that you have the main WTWS image created, you can add some surrounding context. Start with some background and work your way forward. When considering the background, ask yourself some questions. Is it day or night? Do I see the sun or the moon, blue skies or a black velvet field of stars? Is it clear or cloudy and stormy with lightning?

Don’t forget the backdrop on the ground either. To the west are the Watchung mountains of New Jersey. To the east are the cityscapes of Union, Newark, and New York City. Being near Newark Liberty airport, there might be a few airplanes as well. Perhaps there are some nearby inferior water towers gazing up in awe or effluvial envy of the WTWS. For my drawing I made a sunny day with some cities and mountains in the background.

Now that a background is added, work your way forward and add some foreground. Remember all the rich details of the site of the WTWS. It sits in the Kahwamee swamp, so add a swamp and some cattails. It is surrounded by major roadways, so don’t forget Route 22, the Garden State Parkway, or Morris Avenue. Finally, add some grass and trees. Although many people have an image of New Jersey as an endless roadway, in reality it is a garden state, covered from end to end with grass, trees, and water ways, so don’t leave them out Consider which season you have in your image, and make the trees bare for winter, bright green for spring, dark green for summer, and fire-colored for autumn. Go crazy with the colors because the WTWS site changes with each passing day.

I would say our artwork is looking great, but as a finishing touch you can add all sorts of happy visitors to the WTWS. I remember when I was a child, a large zeppelin attempted to dock with the WTWS during a storm. There was also an episode of belligerent alien space craft who communicated with the WTWS and then left in a peaceful manner (and as a gift gave us large brown bubbles on our New Jersey thin-crust pizza). Also there are countless episode of cars crashing and planes doing aerial stunts around the WTWS. Perhaps you want to add your family or pets to the artwork. This is the time to let your imagination run wild and give your drawing a sense of personality.

I hope I’ve given you a bit of inspiration to make some WTWS artwork. Click on the images to get a larger view. Feel free to use any of these images as starting point or as a coloring book for the beginning artists. If you make any good artworks, please send them in, and we will feature them on the site. Good luck!

Whoops, I nearly forgot to mention that the latest issue of Weird N.J. (#32) has a nice article on the World’s Tallest Water Sphere.

Not only do they have wonderful color photos of the WTWS that you can carry conveniently on your next safari in Bostwana, you also get a colorful shot of the WTWS web master in full WTWS professor costume. It even has a glimpse of some of the fine models you can view when you visit the WTWS Museum in Austin, Texas.

On sale at newsstands everywhere from now until October, 2009. Please patronize this fine magazine and the many wonderful New Jersey topics they cover.

Many readers ask the World’s Tallest Water Sphere site, what exactly is a water sphere? What distinguishes a water sphere from a water spheroid? What is a water ellipsoid? What is the difference between a water tower and a water tank? Is the Union water tower, the world’s tallest water tower? To help answer these questions, the WTWS staff has journeyed to photograph some water towers in Manor, Texas.

A water tank is a container or vessel that stores water for later use. Water tanks come in many shapes and sizes, but most water systems have cylindrical or spheroidal shaped tanks. Typically they are filled by electric pumps that move the water to the highest part of the tank, and they are drained by the force of gravity moving water through outlets at the bottom of the tank. Most tanks are filled with treated water that comes from a well, river, or natural reservoir.

A water tower is a particular water tank that is taller than it is wide. Many water towers store water high above ground. This is done so that gravity pressure can move the water to any site that is lower than the tower, since water likes to flow downhill and seek a lower elevation. Many water towers have a bigger top than bottom by using legs or a large center post. This puts the stored water at a greater height than an equal-sized volume at ground level.

A water sphere is a type of water tower that has a large sphere at the top of its post. The sphere looks like a golf ball sitting on a tee or a round lollipop. A cross section of a sphere in any direction (east-west, north-south, or top-bottom) is a perfect circle. A water spheroid looks like a water sphere, but the top is wider than it is tall. A spheroid looks like a round pillow that is somewhat flattened. A cross section of a spheroid in two directions (east-west or north-south) is an ellipse, but in only one direction (top-bottom) is it a perfect circle. Both spheres and spheroids are special-case ellipsoids: spheres have symmetry in 3 directions, spheroids have symmetry in 2 directions. Scalene ellipsoids have 3 unequal length axes and three unequal cross sections. (Please let us know if you spot a water tower that is a scalene ellipsoid.)

Below are photos of three water towers. Click on the thumbnail photos for a larger view. The one to the left with the emblem of the Manor Mustangs is a water sphere. Notice the top of the tower is a sphere. It has a conical reinforcing collar below the sphere, but the roundness of the tower is clearly visible. The tower in the middle is a newer water tower located at the Manor Technology High School. Although the middle tower also has a conical neck, the shape of the spheroid is visible. It looks like a flattened pillow. It is most clear when you look at the top of the tower, the outline is not a circle. The last picture on the right is a water spheroid at the Shadow Glen Golf Club in Manor. Once again the top is clearly not spherical. It looks flattened.

Most water towers made in the last 50 years are water spheroids and not water spheres. For engineering stability reasons, mostly due to a more aerodynamic shape in cross winds, new towers are almost exclusively the water spheroid type. And none are as tall as the Union water tower.
So for the particular type of water tank known as a water sphere, the Union water tower is the World’s Tallest Water Sphere.

Here is a colored pencil art work by David Wuethrich entitled “The Runner.”

In the background we see a “blue era” Union water tower prominently displayed with clear “Union” markings and the “dual halo” neck pieces. In the foreground, a runner follows an arduous path to the summit. The runner is dressed for summer, glasses and shorts, sweating and struggling to reach the top. A deckled edge surrounds the scene. The bright orange path, though clearly depicted and unhindered by obstacles, winds its way up a tall hill to the World’s Tallest Water Sphere.

There are many interpretations, but this is clearly a piece about striving to perfection. The WTWS is at the summit and the object of the struggle. The author reveres the World’s Tallest Water Sphere by placing it on the holy upper left of the piece, venerating the clean fresh drinking water and steady pressure provided by the tower. The hill is centrally depicted, and echoed in the mountainous deckled edge, but the path is long and ascending. The sylvan hill is in contrast to the actual setting of the WTWS. The runner is well prepared, but there is a long way to go. The skies are blue, but the runner has come a long way. Will he succeed? Or will there be a dehydrated body left at the foot of the mighty tower?

I found these photos at the World’s Tallest Water Sphere Museum offices. Unfortunately I have no notes on who submitted them, when they were submitted, or the people who are in the photos.

The first photo appears to be from the 1950s. A happy family gazes contemplatively upon a model of the World’s Tallest Water Sphere. The family is dressed up and appears to be ready for dinner. Behind them a lovely set of boats sits in the docks. It appears to be evening.

The second photo also appears to be from the 1950s. The setting is a school room. A teacher sits with two students at a desk. The teacher has palms upon the schoolboy’s head and the World’s Tallest Water Sphere. The teacher appears to be meditating.

If you know the origin of these photos, please email and let us know.

For people who want to flash secret signs for the camera, here is how you finger spell “WTWS” using American Sign Language finger spelling. I think it would be great if some of the photo submissions for the site showed you and your friends flashing the “WTWS” for your viewers and friends.

For those of us who are memory impaired and do not know ASL: the W is the three fingered salute, commonly used by sports teams to signal a “3-peat” or third goal or three pointer, the T is a fist with a captured thumb, commonly used with little kids and the “I caught your nose” game, and the S is the power fist, commonly used to signal “power to the people,” or “fight, fight, fight.”

Of course I think there should also be a plain sign language symbol for the World’s Tallest Water Sphere. I propose a hand signing symbol for the WTWS as follows. Present a fist and forearm, upright, in the shape of the World’s Tallest Water Sphere. Look upon the fist symbol in awe, in inspired gaze, recognizing the human accomplishment of tallness, sphereness, and fresh clean drinking water. Adorn the fist and arm with any jewelery in the appearance of the cell phone antennae, circular neck halos, or flashing warning beacons.
Awesome!

Photography and hand images are courtesy of the ASL University site.

I looked out across the river today
I saw a city in the fog and an old church tower
Where the seagulls play.
And all this time,
the river flowed endlessly to the sea.

Come with me on an epic journey from the World’s Tallest Water Sphere to the sea. For millenia, the site of the World’s Tallest Water Sphere has been connected to the sea. Our ancestors walked along the banks of what is now the Elizabeth River. Early New Jersey settlers dipped their canoe paddles in its waters. In 1964 we honored the site by building the World’s Tallest Water Sphere. What hath man wrought?

Today we drill and pump the waters of this site, process and store this life giving medium in the World’s Tallest Water Sphere, drink and quench our thirst from this tower, and hold and flush this effluvia from our body, for our rivers to carry it back to sea. And so the water connects you to me and we to the World’s Tallest Water Sphere.

So let us make like our ancestors and follow the course of the water from the World’s Tallest Water Sphere to the sea. Click on the map image above to view a navigable, annotated map. Follow the waypoints from the WTWS site to the sea. See the nearby roads and works of this journey. Read the history at each waypoint and get insight to our connection with our past and each other.

Sphere of Sauron

She writes, “One sphere to rule them all, one sphere to find them…” and to that we respond, “one sphere to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them.”

Yes, the evil plan of the WTWS is working. Yet another viewer has been ensnared. The image of the sphere, forever burned on her brain.

In a related story, riders on Route 22 have reported strange cloud formations, wind, lightning, a searchlight beam, and a sulfurous smell around the site of the World’s Tallest Water Sphere.

These colorful World’s Tallest Water Sphere proposals are sent to us from Gina Signorella-Arlen, formerly of Roselle Park and self-professed WTWS groupie. Not only the photo-editing, but the titles of her works include the ironic humor that many Jerseyans share.

I especially like the Zeppelin one, I am sure many Zeppelin album covers (e.g. Presence) would make for a good mash up image with the WTWS.

Reader Graham Gudgin shares his tuppence worth about the World’s Tallest Water Sphere in his blog An Englishman in New Jersey. He artfully compares and contrast the WTWS to another famous tower, The Monument of London. His insight is keen, and his writing is quite engaging. Throughout his blog are interesting anecdotes comparing life in New Jersey to that back in England.

Perhaps you have a favorite local attraction? Is it world class? Is it tall and unloved? Why not compare your favorite spot to the World’s Tallest Water Sphere, and I will post it here.

A few weeks ago we posted the Star Ledger Live story about the World’s Tallest Water Sphere and this site. In case you did not watch the video, there were 3 very creative proposals for a new paint scheme for the WTWS. I believe writer Brian Donahue mentioned that they are the creative works of Bumper DeJesus, Multimedia Editor for Ledger Live. In order to recognize the creative artwork of the Ledger Live team, I have made screen captures of the the three designs: Paisley, Stripes, and Smiley.

The Union water tower has not been painted in about 10 years. The readers of this site should consider what colors and paint schemes would be most appropriate. If you have an idea, please take one of the photos from this site and use your best photo editing skills to present your proposal. We will publish the best submissions here.

As many readers of this site are aware, the World’s Tallest Water Sphere connects us through time and space.

We are all connected to its past, evidenced in our relationships to the histories of the WTWS shared earlier on this site. We are also connected to its future, envisioning what will be, and molding and shaping what is to come under the influence of this mighty tower.

Similarly in place we are all connected. Those of us lucky enough to see the WTWS in person, have stood on its site, and become connected with each other and our ancestors through its presence. Those of us who have not yet visited the WTWS may do so one day, and become connected with those who have gone before.

Those of us browsing this site through the internet too are connected in a seemingly boring existence, rescued through the excitement and hopeful potential of the life under the World’s Tallest Water Sphere.

We have covered Life Before the Water Sphere – 1951, and now it is time to go way back to life in Union Township, circa 1880, before the Union Flagship, before Springfield’s Playland Park, before the World’s Tallest Water Sphere.

From the map, circa 1880, courtesy of the New Jersey Division of Public Records, you can see many of the same streets and features that exist in Union Township today.

The east-west line of Morris Avenue bisects the town. Stuyvesant Avenue and Vauxhall Road stretch out from the center and to the north. Chestnut Street and Salem Road cross at Five Points in the south.

Hard to believe, but Route 22 does not exist in 1880. How did they ever purchase their cell phones and flat panel digital TVs back then? Rather, Chestnut Avenue curves westward and merges with what eventually becomes Route 22. A D.W. Sayer lives near the Best Buy near Springfield Avenue. And K.F. Hantes sold his Route 22/Michigan Avenue spread to make way for the McDonald’s.

Serendipitously, some of the Union landmarks that exist today link us to the past. The Connecticut Farms Church is clearly marked, as is the Connecticut Farms Elementary School labeled “School No. 27.” The loop of Spruce Street junctions with Liberty Avenue and heads towards Springfield and the Rahway River. Caldwell Avenue shows the old Parsonage. Elmwood Avenue appears to be the home of J. Burnett, a relative of David G. Burnet (first governor of Texas)?

In the center of the map is the Union Branch of the Elizabeth River. This is the current home of the World’s Tallest Water Sphere. Curiously, the stream is labeled in pencil “Hammock Brook.” Nearby the current site of the WTWS is a Cider Mill, and downstream lies an Ice House. Follow the Hammock Brook upstream, and you see the it snakes through Kenilworth, under Chestnut Street and back toward Rahway and Morris Avenue, to its source under the current Jaeger Lumber store.