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The city's famous water tower in Knocknaheeny has taken on a whole new life of its own.
People from all over the city have started seeing luminous green lights dominating the skyline in Cork over the past week, but fear not, it isn't extra terrestrial life. As part of the overall regeneration of the Knocknaheeny area, residents had asked the Cork City Council to consider lighting up the water tower.
The water tower is located near the top of Knocknaheeny Hill (elevation 150m) in an area bounded by residential and commercial buildings.
The upper part of the tower is even visible from some city centre locations. Local Fianna Fail Cllr Tony Fitzgerald brought a motion before the council over three years ago to have the water tower lit up at night.
"It was approved by the council well over a year ago," he told the Cork Independent. "It took time to explore all the options but last week, engineers put up the custom-designed lighting units." The result has been that the water tower is visible from many parts of the city and the circular bowl shape of the tower combined with the green lighting has led people to believe aliens have landed!
"It can be seen as you come in the Dublin Road, you can also see it coming down the Airport Road and from all over the city. This iconic feature now has the prevalence it deserves," said Cllr Fitzgerald.
The response to the new feature has been very positive, especially around Knocknaheeny. "A number of residents originally contacted me asking to do something with the water tower. It can be seen from all over the city and the residents thought there should be something positive done with this. The feedback has been exceptional and people are delighted with it," he said.
The floodlighting of the tower is in operation between dusk and 1am daily. The illumination of the Knocknaheeny Water Tower, which used custom designed energy efficient lighting cost €43,000 and was funded by the capital money from the Department of the Environment Directorate. The installation of lighting, mounted on the structure of the tower itself, incorporates fittings that will not require the usual maintenance or lamp replacement, thus ensuring reduced running costs for Cork City Council.
The use of Light Emitting Diode, LED for illumination is particularly suited to floodlighting applications for cycle tracks, pathways and amenities. Cork City Council has used this technology to light Shandon Pedestrian Bridge using just 30 per cent of the original energy demand to provide improved lighting on the bridge deck.
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