Utility’s well field will be on tap in June

Clark Public Utilities is moving toward completion of a new well field tapping the largest single source of water in its history.

The South Lake Well Field, located just off Fruit Valley Road off the southeast corner of Vancouver Lake, will boost the utility’s pumping capacity by a third when it’s put into service in June. The $10.4 million project has been under way since August.

Contractors installed pumps last week for two wells drilled to a depth of 600 feet.

Tapping an enormous regional aquifer underlying much of the Portland-Vancouver metro area, utility managers expect the well field will be able to produce as much as 10 million gallons per day — accommodating about 10 years’ worth of projected growth in demand.

The utility currently delivers about 10 million gallons a day from its existing network of 34 wells, which are mostly scattered along Salmon Creek.

The utility is the second-largest water purveyor in Clark County behind the city of Vancouver. It delivers water to about 30,000 homes and businesses, supporting an estimated population of 80,000. Because the new well field is located within the city of Vancouver, contractors have had to tear up Fruit Valley Road to run a 30-inch-diameter pipe a mile north to the utility’s existing underground piping network at 78th Street.

Most of the road work should be done by the end of April, project manager Russ Knutson said during a tour on Tuesday involving the utility’s three elected commissioners.