Mindszent's 50-metre-high water tower blown up

The town of Mindszent in Csongrád-Csanád county said farewell to its water tower built in 1973 in a spectacular way: the structure, which was in a dangerous condition from a structural point of view, was blown up. The region is receiving EU funding for a comprehensive drinking water quality improvement project, which will see the construction of a new tower.

The demolition was carried out by A-Híd Zrt. on 10 October, based on permits issued by the Regulatory Activities Supervisory Authority and the Csongrád-Csanád County Disaster Management Directorate.

All options have been explored

On 7 October, the local city council unanimously accepted the experts' opinions that the reinforced concrete support structure was in an extremely poor condition, its load-bearing capacity had been significantly reduced and it was no longer fit for purpose. Its renovation would not have been cost-effective or safe. The use of the tower for other purposes would also have required renovation and regular maintenance, which would have been an extremely heavy burden on the city.

Prepared in every way

The tower, which is 50 metres high and has a capacity of 50 cubic metres, has been completely dewatered and the connecting pipes (water, sewage, electricity and communications) have been replaced. Preparatory drilling was carried out over several days, and the explosives were loaded into the boreholes on 10 October. The explosion was timed so as not to disrupt traffic on the Szolnok-Hódmezővásárhely-Makó railway line, which runs through Mindszent.

To ensure that no one was within range of the blast and the blast, shops, small streets and the railway station were evacuated. Vibration damping prisms had previously been built at the site of the planned tilt of the water tower to reduce the force of the tower's impact. Some 33 kg of explosives were used in the blast.