The city is building a new reservoir in the Meydenbauer Bay neighborhoood to meet water demands from anticipated growth in downtown, BelRed and other areas. Reservoirs are storage tanks for water used for drinking and firefighting, buffering strain on the water supply system during peak demands and allowing for continuous service during brief supply shutdowns. Based on regulations and industry standards, the city will need additional reservoir volume by 2030.
Project Location
In 2022 and 2023 the city considered four neighborhoods for the new reservoir based on criteria including the following:
- Technical feasibility
- Community benefits and impacts
- Operational impacts
- Costs
In December 2023, the Meydenbauer neighborhood location was selected for the following reasons:
- Bellevue Utilities owns the property.
- The size of the property can accommodate a large reservoir needed to support future growth.
- The location is geographically close to where additional water storage is forecasted to be needed.
- The neighborhood supports a new reservoir at this location (based on it being a fully buried reservoir in order to preserve the current open space of the property).
- The location is favorable from a system operation/redundancy standpoint.
Project Scope
The scope of the project will include not only the new reservoir, but also a new pump station building next to the reservoir, and several thousand linear feet of transmission water main to transport water from the reservoir into the existing water distribution system.
Progress
The following planning and design work has been completed or is in progress:
- Topographic survey to create a base map for developing the proposed design.
- Geotechnical (soil and groundwater) investigation to design and construct the proposed reservoir and pump station structures.
- Existing utilities investigation to design the proposed facilities and determine what, if any, existing utilities are in the way.
- Evaluation of design parameters to define the size, configuration and alignment of the proposed reservoir structure, pump station building and transmission main.
- Develop a public outreach plan to communicate project need, progress and impact to the neighborhood and affected community.
- Host regular community meetings to update and discuss the project.
Anticipated Timeline
- Construction: summer 2027 to spring 2030
- Final Design/Permitting: summer 2025 to spring 2027
- Preliminary Design: winter 2024 to summer 2025
Outreach
Nov. 13, 2024 Community Meeting: Project progress, timeline and community impact were discussed (meeting summary).
March-December 2023: Site alternatives evaluation including interactive maps and digital content, follow-up emails to community members and evaluation centered on updated criteria regarding future projected growth in Bellevue
November 2022-January 2023: Site alternatives evaluation including communitywide survey and Nov. 29, 2022 online open house (recording)
July 2022-January 2023: Site options identification and analysis, including emails to community members, collection of comments/feedback from neighbors, which provided understanding of community interests and priorities.
May-July 2022: Initial engagement regarding site selection, with walk-and-talks and small meetings with neighbors of potential sites, paper and online comment collection, which were used in the development of criteria for evaluating alternatives.
Utilities
