Towering over Hood Road: How the Seacoast water storage tank evolved

The dismantling of the old water tank in the early 2000s.

The Seacoast Utility Authority water tower on Hood Road — technically known as an elevated storage tank — has been a landmark in the city for nearly 50 years.

The original tower was built in 1976 for the Palm Beach County Utilities Co., the John D. MacArthur-owned predecessor to Seacoast. The tank, standing 150-feet tall with a capacity of 300,000 gallons, became operational in 1977 when the water treatment plant on Hood Road was completed.

The utility was renamed Seacoast in 1978 and its logo was painted on the tower. Seacoast provides water and sewer services for Palm Beach Gardens, North Palm Beach, Lake Park, Juno Beach and parts of Palm Beach County.

By the early 2000s, this original tower was deemed inadequate to keep up with the increasing demand for water in the area. 

A new 180-foot tower with more than double the capacity of the old one, at 750,000 gallons, was designed and built as part of a complete overhaul of the Hood Road plant. 

The new tower was completed in 2007 and the original tower was demolished that same year.

— Ed Dooley

The old Seacoast Utility tank. (Seacoast photo)

New tank, left, replaces the old. (Seacoast photo)

Workers atop the new Seacoast Utility Authority tank before it replaced the old one on the right. (Seacoast photo)

The Seacoast water tank in 2021. (Joel Engelhardt photo)