City Under Pressure To Add Some To Water In/Around: Indian Trail
It looks like the Roman Coliseum under construction, with high ceiling, concrete walls and circular shape.
But the structure going up near Strong and Indian Trail roads is a 4.6-million gallon water tank. The tank, expected to be finished by Aug. 19, will serve the far northwest side of the city.
“It doesn’t bother me a bit,” said Nelda Olsen, who lives in the Pacific Park area. “I’m happy they’re doing something about the water situation in this area.
“There are many people here who don’t have any water pressure at all in the summer.”
The city hopes the new tank will ease the area’s water woes, eliminate the need for a temporary water line and prepare the area for more construction.
The tank has been in the planning stages for years. It is costing about $1.62 million to build.
“It will greatly alleviate the existing water pressure problems we’re having out there,” said Dick Raymond, a senior engineer in the city’s Construction Services Department. “In times of strong demand, it’s hard to get water pressure.”
Just ask some of the residents.
“When my sprinklers came on, they would pop up just about an inch,” said Jana Beilstein, secretary of the Woodridge Homeowners Association. “The stream from the sprinklers would come out a foot, a foot and a half, and stop. A neighbor, two summers ago, turned a faucet and got nothing.”
A temporary water line has eased severe problems.
Before that line was built, some residents had trouble showering in the summer.
But Beilstein isn’t convinced that the new water tank will actually provide enough water for the area after the temporary line is removed.
“Our basic concern is when that tank is up and running, we’ll be in the same situation as before,” Beilstein said.
Developer Rod Plese shares similar concerns about the new water tank and the temporary water line, which the city plans to remove by Sept. 1. Plese said the far northwest area needs another water tank in addition to the one being built.
“This new Strong Road water tank they think is going to solve the water problem up there on the hill,” Plese said. “We’ve had our engineers look at it, and the city’s wrong.”
The tank isn’t large by city standards. Two tanks in the Lincoln Heights area hold 10 million gallons. Another in the North Hill system holds 10.7 million gallons.
Several in the southwest area of the city hold 5 million gallons.
Harry McLean, an associate engineer for the city Water Department, said the Strong Road tank is designed to serve present and future needs.
As development continues, the city will also provide roads in the area. Strong Road will stay as a gravel road until the McCarroll East project north and around the tank is started, probably next year.
The project will take five to 10 years to finish, said Eldon Brown, principal engineer of plan review in construction services for the city.
The road will be paved as the project is started. Today’s Strong Road will become an arterial, and the new Strong Road will be realigned and swing to the north.
“This area’s growing, growing, growing,” Olsen said. “We need roads, but we need water too.”
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