City water service extends in bid for base

The city of Spokane is extending its water service westward to the vicinity of Fairchild Air Force Base in a bid to serve the air base and other potential customers on the West Plains.

The City Council on March 31 approved a $2.6 million contract with Eller Corp. of Newman Lake to install an extension of a 36-inch water main from Thomas Mallen Road at Hallett Road three miles west to Craig Road.

Public Works Director Dave Mandyke said the extension is considered a first phase of putting city water close enough to Fairchild Air Force Base that the city could replace the base’s own existing water source.

The main might also serve any future industrial development near Craig and Medical Lake roads as well as the city of Medical Lake and the community of Four Lakes, Mandyke said. Vacant land along Craig and Medical Lake roads is one of the largest parcels for potential industrial expansion in the region, he said.

The new water main would pass underneath Interstate 90 through a sleeve that was previously placed beneath the freeway lanes, he said.

A second phase of the extension would run from Craig and Medical Lake roads to just outside the base at McFarland and Rambo roads, he said.

Air base officials have been considering a switch to Spokane city water. Currently, the base is served by a well along the Spokane River which is delivered by a water line running across the West Plains from the river to the base.

If Fairchild switched to city water, the city would seek to obtain the existing Fairchild water line for transporting reclaimed city wastewater for irrigation on the West Plains in coming years.

Providing Fairchild with city water would also free the base from operating a water utility, which might be a plus in helping maintain Fairchild as an Air Force base in the future, Mandyke said.