Coliban Water held a drop in for community members curious about the demolition of the old Echuca Water Tower. Pictured are Peter O'Nial, Mary and Robert Dick and Andrew Fawcett.
Photo by
JORDAN TOWNROW
Curious residents crowded into Fuzion Cafe on Thursday, July 23 with one burning question on their minds: how exactly do you safely take down a 32m high concrete monolith in the middle of town?
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It has been a hot topic of local conversation for months, but at its drop-in information session, Coliban Water representatives gave the community a chance to get answers face-to-face.
With the scaffolding up and the crane at the ready, the team at Coliban Water say they are ready to begin the juicy part of what they call “deconstruction”.
Workers will first begin cutting the tower in 2m sections by core-drilling two holes in each section.
The crane will be rigged to these holes, and once rigged workers will cut the bottom of the section so it can be safely lifted over the power lines and onto the closed of section of Pakenham St ready to be crushed down and recycled.
Scaffolding is up around the Echuca Water Tower - now the hard part begins.
Photo by
JORDAN TOWNROW
Workers will repeat this ring-by-ring process every 2m down to the shallow end of the tank.
From there, crews will switch to "concrete munching"— using specialised machinery to manually crunch away at the solid base.
Coliban Water has put additional foundations inside the tower to support the freestanding scaffolding, reinforcing safety for workers, residents and businesses in that area.
There are a few questions Coliban has about what lies under the 111-year-old water tower, but if all things go to plan, the tower will be demolished, and the corner will be left vacant come Christmas.
Built in March 1915 at a cost of £2973, the Echuca water tower could hold 680,000 litres at its fullest.
Coliban Water took over management of the tower in 1992 from Echuca council, and has been monitoring its condition as it was built to entirely different construction standards to today.
Following the discovery of facade issues in 2024, an independent structural assessment in 2025 confirmed significant deterioration that posed a long-term risk to the public and site workers.
