MEDICAL LAKE — The City Council finalized an interlocal agreement with Four Lakes Water District 10 at their July 20 meeting. The agreement is for the provision of water between the city and the district, which up until now has been an emergency-only situation. If a Four Lakes well were to go down, for example, the city could provide emergency water until the situation was fixed.
With the addition of the new Spokane intertie, the water situation in Medical Lake has been shaken up. In an agreement over a decade in the making, an intertie between Spokane and Medical Lake was constructed near Craig Road and State Route 2. The intertie will provide an additional source of water that will be sourced from outside the city’s current aquifer.
The project was approved in June 2019, although it experienced some setbacks due to COVID-19 restrictions. General Industries, which had a low bid of $651,692.45, handled the construction of a new booster station next to the well pump house and the minimal piping required.
As per the intertie agreement, Spokane will provide 150 gallons of water per minute to Medical Lake. The additional water from the intertie will allow a more consistent supply of water to flow from Medical Lake to the Four Lakes district.
“This new agreement is all the time,” said City Administrator Doug Ross. “It was only made possible because of [the intertie]. Otherwise, there would be no water to spare.”
Of the additional 150 gallons of water per minute going to Medical Lake, 50 will go straight to the Four Lakes district. If for some reason the agreement with Spokane were to end, Medical Lake would no longer be responsible for providing the 50 gallons of water to the Four Lakes district.
Riley Kankelberg can be reached at riley@cheneyfreepress.com.
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