City to pressurize water transmission pipeline

The Shelton City Council is slated to award a contract at its Nov. 7 meeting to pressurize the water transmission pipeline from its Well 1 to its High School Reservoir, on the hill above Shelton Timberland Library.

The Shelton City Council and staff members discussed the project Oct. 24 at a study session. The city began accepting bids for the project Tuesday. The transmission pipeline is currently guided by gravity.

The Well 1 Rebab Project began in 2018 with Gray & Osborne, Inc. initiating pre-design efforts. The completion of the design allowed city staff to seek funding through a state legislative appropriation request.

In September 2021, the city secured $2 million in the 2021-23 state capital budget. It used the state’s Coronavirus State Fiscal Recovery Funds through the federal American Rescue Plan Act, administered through the state Department of Commerce.

The project includes modifications on Wells 1 and 4, replacement of about 800 feet of pipe from Well 1 to Shelton Springs by open-cut methods, replacing pipe and other modifications to the Shelton Springs site, and replacing about 3,900 feet of pipe from Shelton Springs to the High School Reservoir by sliplining methods.

The cast-iron pipe running into the High School tank will be replaced with a 12-inch ductile iron, pressurized water line that will be placed inside the caste-iron pipe. The city will also expand and improve the fencing around the High School tank and plant “drought tolerant” landscaping on its steep slopes. The city also plans to repaint the tank in the 2025 budget.

As part of its renovations of Well 1, the City of Shelton will remove the sand trap and provide better security around the facility near the intersection of North 13th Street and Shelton Springs Road.

“We need to make these places safe and keep people out of them,” said Aaron Nix, the city’s capital projects manager.

The city’s recently updated water comprehensive plan found the city’s water storage “deficient under all planning years.” It recommends the city study and improve the Angelside Reservoir PS, construct a reservoir in Upper Mountain View near the Well 1, build a new reservoir in Angelside, take the Capitol Hill Reservoir offline, and create a reservoir in Upper Mountain View in Shelton Hills, with the developer paying that cost.

“The goal is to get another well online in the next four or five years,” Public Works Director Jay Harris said at the work session. “As party of the comp plan, they identified capacity, and we just need another well long-term.”

As of 2020, the city ‘s water system has about 3,700 connections. The city’s water distribution system consists of almost 66 miles of water main, three wells, five reservoirs and four booster pump stations. The city is divided into five pressure zones: Angelside, Capitol Hill, High School, Mountain View and Upper Mountain View.