The City of Spokane and the Washington Department of Health have confirmed the need for a new reservoir in Spokane’s South Hill/Lincoln Heights pressure zone. The additional reservoir will ensure adequate supplies of water for drinking, indoor household uses, fire protection, and irrigation for residents who live on Spokane's South Hill.
Project Number: 2017108
Status: Design
Construction Estimate: $13,300,000
Project Description: Construct new 2 million gallon elevated steel and concrete water reservoir.
Project Location(s) and Schedule
Crews will be in the area during the scheduled time frame. All schedules are approximate and dependent on weather and unforeseen delays. Once the contract has been awarded, contractors will be responsible for setting and maintaining the schedule for the work to be done. If you have questions regarding the construction schedule or the work being done, please contact the contractor’s public representative. Contractors are required to provide two business day’s notice to a homeowner/business if the homeowner/business owner’s property will be directly impacted by the work. This includes access issues. The contractor will do its best to minimize impacts on the public, but unforeseen circumstances may result in the need to temporarily revise traffic restrictions. For everyone’s safety, please obey all traffic signs.
Construction Zone Details
Note: The contractor will do its best to minimize impacts on the public, but unforeseen circumstances may result in the need to temporarily revise traffic restrictions. For everyone’s safety, please obey all traffic signs.
Construction Start Date: June 2023
Construction Completed Date: 2025
Contract Award Date: March 29, 2023
Contractor: To be determined
City Project Manager - Design Phase: Rich Proszek, 509.625.6700, rproszek@spokanecity.org
City Project Manager - Construction Phase: Mark Melnick, 509.625.7774, mmelnick@spokanecity.org
On Oct. 26, 2022, Engineering Services conducted a public meeting for a conditional use permit.
View the presentation slides (PDF 2.6 MB) from the meeting.
Water tank locations must meet the following specifications:
Water tank design must meet the following specifications:
In 2020, a dozen potential site locations were identified in the South Hill/Lincoln Heights pressure zone that met the design requirements. A list of those sites, along with the selection criteria for each site, can be viewed online. Through careful consideration of public input (public meetings and surveys), the City has been able to narrow down the list of potential sites to the three most viable locations: Hamblen Elementary, 37th Avenue, and 31st and Napa. While it is not necessary to meet all site selection criteria, costs increase for each criteria which is not met. That is, the more site selection criteria that are met, the less costs that will be incurred by the City's water rate payers.
The City received 847 responses to the Proposed South Hill Water Reservoir public survey. Eighty-five percent of the survey respondents reside in the South Hill area.
Out of 847 responses, 476 respondents selected Hamblen Elementary as their first choice for the location of the water tank, while only 188 selected 31st and Napa as their first choice and only 183 selected 37th Avenue as their first choice. As such, Hamblen Elementary received the highest ranked choice score.
View an explanation on how Survey Monkey performs ranked choice calculations.
Thank you for taking the time to read about the project and provide us with your feedback.
Email your questions or comments to highsystemtank@spokanecity.org.
To review the list of answers to frequently asked questions, see South Hill/Lincoln Heights Water Tank FAQs (PDF 781 KB).
