Hannah Robb, Public Relations Intern, No Phone Number Available
Wednesday, May 7, 2014 at 2:58 p.m.
As many residents near Underhill Park in the East Central neighborhood know, major construction is under way at the park. The City of Spokane is building a 1.5 million gallon concrete tank designed to keep overflows from combined sanitary and stormwater sewers from reaching the Spokane River.
The combined sewer overflow (CSO) tank is being built under the parking lot at the park. When the tank work is complete, the parking lot will be replaced, and the park will have various other improvements. Hartson Avenue from Fiske Street to Altamont Street will be repaved at the end of the project.
A CSO tank's main purpose is to capture and retain overflows from combined sewers to the river that can occur during large storms or periods of rapid snowmelt. Additionally, the tank will assist with localized basement flooding in homes in the neighborhood.
This project is part of the City's Integrated Clean Water Plan, which is designed to improve the quality of the water in the Spokane River, one of the City's greatest assets. Taking a cleaner-river-faster approach, the Integrated Clean Water Plan is on track to improve Spokane's water and environment by prioritizing projects that have a greater impact on reducing pollution in the river. The Underhill CSO tank is expected to be completed winter of 2015.
