50-year-old Hotevilla water tank set for dismantling

HOTEVILLA, Ariz. - The silver colored, flashlight-shaped water tank at Hotevilla Village, located on Third Mesa at the Hopi Reservation, was built in 1958 specifically for student classroom and staff housing use at the Hotevilla Bacavi School compound.

It will be dismantled as soon as a physical assessment site survey can be completed and approved by the Albuquerque Area Office BIA-Facilities department via the BIA Keams Canyon Agency.

The tank itself has been leaning a bit to the east in the past few years and has gradually gained momentum in the last year, due to wear, wind and cement structure compromise.

This has caused concern for the Hotevilla Bacavi Community School Board since the safety of their students and staff members who occupy the school compound is at their highest priority. The Hotevilla village administration must also look out for the welfare and safety of its own village membership.

The tilting of the structure has had additional concern for the village community administration, since their village co-op store, village offices, the post office, village corn mill, and new elderly-youth center also sit below this 150-foot-high water tank.

The other issue complicated by this water tank is that this tower also has several radio aerial antennae that provide relay or DSL (direct line service) for Cellular One, Hopi Telecommunications, Hopi PD-Hopi Rangers, Navajo PD and additional emergency service agencies for both Hopi and Navajo area.

Hotevilla village has held several public meetings to notify the village membership of the water tank and antennae change, as well as how and what services could be interrupted if another suitable, locally situated site for a telecommunications tower that is currently accommodated by this highly structured tank is not found.

BIA facilities money that has been allocated to the removal and installation of a new water tank could have been jeapardized if final village approval could not be obtained, but a final village board member approval was given the night of Aug. 12 after a presentation by Hopi Tribe's MIS Director Jerolyn Takala along with input from Robert Charley-Supervisor for Hopi Tribe's Realty Office.

Takala documented the prior, three public village meetings regarding the proposed suggested location changes for the new water tank and antennae equipment and Charley gave an update on the current suggested, most favorable site that is located on a southwest face mesa edge near Hotevilla which has a Cellular One Tower already constructed and is generating lease usage money for Hotevilla village through various agency use rental.

The vote taken that night to make this final approval of the new water tank and antennae tower was verified by a prior standing village administrative guideline created several years ago by a prior village governing board. Concerns expressed by two members of Hotevilla regarding whether the current three member village board was an actual "legal quorum" was further clarified.

Though currently there are only three members on Hotevilla's village governing board, the ideal village board membership for Hotevilla would be to have five actual voting, adult members for every board decision and operation approval.

The verification of the right to make decisions for the village of Hotevilla was researched and until there is a formal change by the current village board membership, this old administrative guideline for a minimum of three voting adult members who could make decisions on behalf of the village still stands.

The current village board at Hotevilla, said they would like to update some of its policies and guidelines, hoping to make some progressive changes, but that it would have to wait until later this winter during some of its administrative work sessions, which the entire village membership will be invited to discuss and hear proposed changes. This would affect village projects and revenues.

The tank was originally constructed by off-reservation iron workers since the design of the tank was selected for provide the greatest amount of height pressure for the water to run into the staff housing and bathrooms, showers and kitchen areas of the school with the least amount of back up electrical energy power.

It wasn't until later in the 1960s that additional water lines were connected to the original tank design to accommodate several houses in the village area as well as two public water spigots that served village membership who had previously utilized only the spring area water for household use.

The BIA's Superintendent in the year that the tank was built was Herman O'Hara, who served the Hopi Agency area from 1956 to 1965. O'Hara's administration selected the unusual Y shape to cover the biggest span of water dispersement.

Currently, there are no other Y-shaped tanks like this one in Hotevilla or anywhere else in Arizona, which not only makes this tank unique, but provides a striking visual landmark that invokes many memories for reservation area residents.

The new water tank that will replace this old landmark tank will be a traditional round drum shaped tank that will also be designed to service the school compound but will also accommodate some village water use, according to current BIA Keams Canyon Superintendent Wendell Honanie.

Once the public discussion of the dismantling of the huge Y shaped water tank became known, memories of days gone by and how the tank affected local village members during their earlier years surfaced.

"I can remember that I was in fourth grade when I first climbed that tank with about 10 other guys in the same age range. I wasn't afraid of the height at first, but once I got nearer to the top and I had to lean backwards to get up the Y shaped angle to the very top, I looked behind me and then I got really scared. You could see really far from there, back then, there weren't as many cedar trees or houses, so you could see all the way up to Dinnebito and over to Bacavi village really clearly. I think I climbed that water tank at least three separate times in my whole life. I am 51 years old now, and I don't think I will be doing it again," said Clark Tenakhongva, who also served as the Hotevilla Village President a few years back.

"I never told my Mom this, but I climbed that tank twice when I was in grade school along with some friends. My name is written at the top of the tank, once in heavy marker and the next, carved with a small pen knife. There are so many names written or carved up there, it was hard to find a space to write my own. I recognized many of the names of people written on top of the tank, who are about the same age as my mom and uncles. I even saw names of guys that are much, much older men in the village now. It became a part of the growing up experience at Hotevilla to put your name on the top of that tank," stated Michael E. Thayer.

"I can remember driving from our home in California through Tuba City to the Hopi rez to stay for the summer and I would see that water tank in the far distance. Back then, you had to drive up the old dirt road that came through the village, not like now, where its paved highway on state 264, but you would turn by Everett's old gas station, then up the dirt road, drive by that old Hopi stone tower and you could just see that big flashlight tank. It was comforting to see it, to know you were getting closer to the village and the mesas," recalled Tom Suetopka.

The new tank will be installed as soon as the site assessment survey can be completed and approved by the BIA facilities offices, which is proposed for start up later this month.

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