The campaign to draw awareness to the 95-year-old water tower next to Fort Fincastle was officially launched yesterday evening.

The ceremony, put on by the Antiquities Monuments and Museum Board (AMMB), brought about several dignitaries and community activists who aim to see the historic water tower re-opened to the public.

AMMB Chairman Courtney Strachan said Bahamians have generally lost sight of the importance of the water tower and so it’s his aim to ensure that awareness is spread not just throughout New Providence, but through all the Family Islands as well.

“We will have an educational component where we will have an essay contest for all the schools through the Ministry of Education,” he said.

“We will also put out a newspaper supplement which will come out some other time in October.”

“This tower has been here and has played a major role to The Bahamas. It contributed to the smooth flow of water to our city and to the hospital.”

The 126-foot-tall water tower was built in 1928 and on average supplied about 375,000 gallons of water daily.

During the mid-1900s when illuminated, the light from the tower could be seen for up to twenty miles, so ships approaching Nassau Harbour could see.

Mr. Strachan said it’s his hope that the tower is reopened in the near future.

“With God’s help, we’re looking forward to within a year or two to have the water tower re-opened,” he said.

“But what’s going to happen at this site is we’re going to create a historic national park where we’re going to fix it, landscape it and offer it to our visitors for a price.”

The chairman said he anticipates it to become revenue generating.

The water tower closed down to the public in 2003 because of structural defects.