At the Aug. 3 EWEB Board meeting, Commissioners approved a contract for excavation services to facilitate the construction of two new seismically resilient water storage tanks at the E. 40th site.

The contract will include excavation, controlled drilling and blasting, subgrade preparation for the new tanks, hauling of material and associated traffic control, and sediment and erosion control.

During the next few weeks, the contractor will submit to EWEB a blasting safety plan, vibration monitoring plan, and work schedule. The plans and work schedule will be shared with neighbors and posted on our website.

During the earthwork phase of the project, controlled blasting will be used to loosen and fragment in-place rock materials to a size that can be removed, transported, or crushed.

The excavation contract requires the contractor to make pre-blast inspections of structures and privately-owned residences located within 500 feet of the areas to be blasted.

The purpose of the inspection is to document the condition of structures, foundations, and windows prior to exposure to vibration from blasting.

EWEB will work with the contractor to contact property owners to schedule pre-blast inspections. There is no charge to the property owner and inspections are optional, but highly encouraged.

The contractor will attend the next neighbor meeting (tentative mid-Sept.) to provide information about anticipated drilling and blasting operations and answer questions about the blasting process, safety plan, schedule, and pre-blast inspections.

In summary, the next steps relative to controlled blasting are:

We will host another neighbor meeting in late summer (tentative mid-Sept.) to discuss construction details and mitigation for the excavation phase of the project, including:

541-685-7899 or water.storage@eweb.org. Emails sent to this address will reach: