$1.5 million needed for Rocky Hill reservoir
The city has progressed in securing a funding source for a water reservoir that would service about 1,000 future homes in the East side.
The $1.5 million, 550,000 gallon Rocky Hill reservoir will be financed with a loan from the state. The storage facility, to be built on the foothills above Granite Hills High School, will help balance residential development and preserve farmland that consumes the western side of the city.
“It will re-focus downtown as the center of the community,” City Manager John Lollis said.
The size of the tank, 64 feet in diameter and 25 feet high, will pale in comparison to the wells on the West side, where many more, much larger wells sit.
“I can’t remember the last time we drilled a well on the East side,” Public Works Director Baldo Rodriguez said. “The best wells are from the West.”
Water will be drawn from those multiple wells, two of which hold as much as 3 million gallons, and pumped to the Rocky Hill reservoir. Construction will be finished in May 2011, but the search for home builders will begin well before then.
It will likely be among the last such water storage units built by the city. In the next 20 years, engineers will look at different ways to bring water to residents, such as replenishing depleted groundwater and treating drinkable Tule River water directly at storage sites.
The first stages for implementing those concepts could begin in the next few years when scientists begin researching, according to Lollis.
Discussion about the need for the Rocky Hill project began four years ago.
Funding will come from the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank, which finances nearly $30 billion in public infrastructure and private development that advance economic growth and revitalize communities. Porterville already has a $6.8 million state loan for water projects.
Plans for the water tank were drawn up by Roberts Engineering, a Porterville-based firm. The city’s engineering staff is currently reviewing those plans.
Contact Jenna Chandler at 784-5000, Ext. 1050, or jchandler@portervillerecorder.com.
