High Water Adventure Continues in Eagle River

Work continued last week on the revitalization of the Eagle River water tower as a crew from Classic Protective Coatings worked to prepare the site for the next phase of the project — a full sand blasting of prior paints and coatings.

To people driving or walking in the area, the scene at the water tower sometimes looked like astronauts conducting spacewalks tethered to the mother ship. Instead, they were watching skilled crew members fearlessly climbing to prepare connections for a large tarp that will cover the entire tower in the coming days to protect the area from dust and chemical particles.

Javier Desantiago is the foreman on the project and helps direct activity through radio devices attached to each crew member. While Desantiago remained at ground level during most of the activity last week, he has spent decades working on repairs and painting towers in locations from Florida to Montana and says that he loves his work.

He acknowledged the importance of water towers as community landmarks and said his team of six will work hard to bring Eagle River a nice result.

Depending on weather, Desantiago said that the project will likely continue for six to eight weeks.