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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
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Water tank on Tubbs Hill to go on line

Workers on top of the new Coeur d'Alene water tank on Tubbs Hill add grout around the hatches of the tank Thursday. The recently completed tank will add a gravity-fed water supply to the city's water system and replace an older tank. (Jesse Tinsley / The Spokesman-Review)
Sam Taylor Staff writer
Workers on top of the new Coeur d'Alene water tank on Tubbs Hill add grout around the hatches of the tank Thursday. The recently completed tank will add a gravity-fed water supply to the city's water system and replace an older tank. (Jesse Tinsley / The Spokesman-Review)

Makeshift bridges on Tubbs Hill should be obsolete now that streams beneath them have disappeared. It’s all because of a new water tank on the top of the popular Coeur d’Alene recreational spot.

On Monday, a new 2-million-gallon concrete storage tank will go on line on top of the hill, replacing the unit built in 1903 that stood in its place, said Steve James, project manager for the tank replacement project and an engineer at J-U-B Engineers, Inc.

James said the new tank, which cost about $1.7 million, has several purposes. The new concrete tank serves as equalization storage, he said, which means the tank will be used when the city’s well pumps are running at peak capacity. Stored water can also be used in an emergency power outage situation and pumps aren’t on line. Finally, and perhaps one of the most important functions, James said, is that the tank’s supply is used for fire protection downtown.

With the hot summer months, and fireworks season nearing, the tank could help firefighters battle blazes sparked by incendiary devices on the hill.

In 2002, a 1-million-gallon steel tank – different from the tank built in 1903 – was replaced on the hill, a major culprit for muddy trails and people assuming there was a stream above them.

City water employees filled the new tank and are letting it sit for three days to check for any leaks, James said. After that, the tank will be drained, pumps will whir again, and the tank will be filled for use on Monday.

The 500,000-gallon tank built in 1903, which was made of concrete, had been leaking for some time, said Terry Pickel, assistant water superintendent for the city.

“Besides being undersized,” Pickel said, “there was a pretty steady small stream-sized leak coming from the tank. People actually built bridges on trails to avoid it.”

James said the old 500,000-gallon tank had been repaired several times, with the inside being sealed and a new concrete roof placed on it in the 1990s. Leaks persisted despite repairs.

Pickel said the new unit was purchased with capital fees on new service connections in the city. The fund, he said, was designed specifically for large projects such as this one.

And with the new tank comes new technology, James said. While the old unit had been constructed on site using a “cast in place” method, the newer tank had some parts, such as wall and roof panels, brought in and installed. The process allowed project staff to build the tank during winter months.

The tank is mostly buried on the hill, and several native plant species will be placed around the tank to conceal it and replace some of the vegetation removed to make room for the water holder.

James also said that, like the previous tank, this one should stick around for some time.

“This one will last 100 years or so,” he said, “hopefully longer.”