Earthoid Water Tank a Fitting Earth Day Symbol

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Laurel – April 19, 2012: In Germantown, Md., the biggest symbol of Earth Day now sports a new paint job. The two-million gallon WSSC water storage tank known as the Earthoid, a replica of Mother Earth, sits on the Germantown campus of Montgomery College at 20150 Observation Drive near I-270.

“The Earthoid water tank is another symbol of how seriously we take our role as environmental stewards and as a protector of a fraction of the 326 million trillion gallons of water on earth,” said Jerry N. Johnson, WSSC General Manager and CEO.

Built in 1978, the 33-year-old tank on the Montgomery College campus was heralded as a landmark project in water storage for its size, shape and paint scheme. WSSC Commissioners approved the paint scheme after staff met with students and faculty at Montgomery College. The students voted for the sphere and suggested that it be painted to look like the Earth as viewed from space. The county council then lifted its tank prohibition against above ground tanks.

Peter Freudenberg first painted the tank to resemble the world in 1980 after creating a scale model based on a National Geographic globe. The 100-foot tall tank has since been featured in numerous magazines. It won the "Steel Tank of the Year" award in 1980 from the Steel Plate Fabricators Association