You may notice something missing from the skyline today. For more than 50 years, the Rocky Mountain Arsenal's red and white checkerboard water tower was a familiar landmark in the eastern metropolitan area. Today, the 150-foot high steel tower was torn down as part of the Arsenal's comprehensive cleanup program.

"The water tower has served as an Arsenal landmark for decades," said U.S. Army Program Manager Charlie Scharmann. "The demolition is a visual sign of the immense progress made at the Arsenal as we approach the final transformation of the site into a premier urban national wildlife refuge."

In keeping with its commitment to recycle materials whenever appropriate, the Arsenal will recycle steel from the water tower. The Arsenal has already recycled more than 10,000 tons of steel from other demolition and environmental cleanup projects.

The water tower was constructed in 1953 and was designed to provide on-site water storage in support of a variety of manufacturing operations. More recently, it supported the Arsenal's reseeding program by supplying water for the irrigation of native prairie grassland habitat. Future reseeding efforts will use other water sources at the Refuge, therefore, the water tower is no longer needed.

The Arsenal's other red and white checkerboard water tower was demolished in 1999.

Community members with questions about the ongoing cleanup of the Arsenal are encouraged to contact the site's Community Information Line at 303-289-0136 or the Tri-County Health Department's Rocky Mountain Arsenal Information Line at 303-286-8032. Information is also available at www.rma.army.mil.

Site History

Currently, 80 percent of Arsenal lands have been removed from the EPA's Superfund List. The Arsenal continues with its ongoing environmental cleanup of the site's soil and structures, and has successfully completed all major contaminated soil projects outlined in the Record of Decision. Groundwater cleanup is expected to continue after the land area cleanup is complete. Most of the remaining cleanup work involves clean construction, which means moving clean soils and materials to build covers over the landfills and consolidation areas. For almost a decade, the Arsenal has repeatedly been honored as one of the nation's safest places to work by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Cleanup plans were developed and approved by the U.S. Army, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Shell Oil Co., Tri-County Health Department and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Once the remainder of the cleanup is complete, the Arsenal's vast open spaces will constitute one of the nation's largest urban wildlife refuges. By fall 2006, more than 12,000 acres of Arsenal land had been transferred from the U.S. Army to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, officially establishing and later expanding the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge. After the Arsenal's remaining cleanup projects are completed and areas are removed from the EPA's National Priorities List, the Army will transfer about 2,500 acres to the Service to complete the expansion of the Refuge. By 2010, the cleanup program will be finished and the Army will retain approximately 1,100 acres to maintain its landfills and groundwater treatment plants.

The Refuge now provides environmental education and interpretive programs, catch-and-release recreational fee fishing, nearly nine miles of trails, wildlife viewing opportunities and site tours for the public, and is a sanctuary for more than 330 species of animals, including wild bison, deer, coyotes, bald eagles and burrowing owls.