Marysville plans new reservoir
Published 9:00 pm Monday, February 26, 2007
LAKEWOOD – Some residents who live here might notice a difference next year when they turn on the faucets in their homes.
The water might come out with more pressure.
Marysville has applied to Snohomish County to build a 500,000 gallon reservoir on a hillside next to its current 6 million gallon reservoir at 614 Lakewood Road.
The new $1.1 million reservoir is intended to increase water pressure for residents who live in a triangle just to the west, bordered by 172nd Street NE, 11th Avenue NE and Forty Five Road.
Kim Pemmant, a caregiver for a family on 172nd Street NE, said a change would be welcome.
“They have one of those hand-held showerheads. It’s got no pressure,” Pemmant said.
The city hopes to start building the reservoir by the end of this year and have it running in 2008, city engineer Kevin Nielsen said.
Marysville supplies water to about 53,000 customers inside and outside the city, Nielsen said. The current Edward Springs Reservoir, near the intersection of 172nd Street NE and Lakewood Road, supplies the north half of Marysville’s water service area and about one-fourth of its customers.
Most of these areas are lower in elevation than the reservoir, so the residents benefit from gravity, Nielsen said.
Not so with the triangle, he said, an area of scattered homes, farms and Cougar Creek Elementary School. The city’s had quite a few complaints from people there about their water pressure, he said.
The new reservoir will be built on the hillside to the west of the current reservoir, to allow water to flow downhill, and will serve only the triangle.
Pumps are sometimes used to increase pressure in some areas, Nielsen said. But pumps use electricity, and gravity is traditionally used as much as possible in water delivery systems, he said.
The triangle is located in unincorporated Snohomish County. Marysville has applied for a conditional-use permit with the county to build the reservoir, a cell phone tower and a 200-square-foot equipment building on the site.
Reporter Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439 or sheets@heraldnet.com.
