E. 40th Water Storage Update

Water Storage Improvement Projects

Access to clean water is vital to our community.

EWEB is hard at work making sure safe, reliable water continues to flow even as critical infrastructure ages and new challenges arise. In the next decade, we plan to construct new water storage facilities near 40th Ave. and Donald St. and replace the water storage systems at EWEB's College Hill and Hawkins Hill sites. The projects will be built to seismic and contemporary operating standards, providing more than 40 million gallons of resilient, safe water storage.

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Dear East 40th Neighbors,

On the evening of July 7, we held a meeting on the project site to inform adjacent neighbors about next steps and to kick off the landscape design process. Several Eugene areas residents attended as well.

There was quite a bit of spirited conversation and concerns about the planning process and impacts on trees, and we did our best to address those questions and concerns.

During the meeting, we recognized that while we’ve been focused on keeping immediate neighbors informed as we moved from design into construction, we have an obligation to extend our outreach as we get closer to breaking ground.

We have heard from some area residents that we need to cast a wider net to inform more people about this project, and we are committed to doing that.

Many of the objections we've heard have some common misrepresentations about the project (for example, that we are clear-cutting the site) but they all come from a place of caring about the environment, climate change risks, our community's future. We are a community that cares a lot and that’s a good thing.

We strive to earn your trust and confidence through ongoing, honest communication, a solid construction mitigation plan, being responsive and adaptive to any issues during construction, restoration and habitat enhancements, and a landscape design informed with public input.

Next steps and activity at the site

Following is a summary of the information that was shared at the July 7 meeting:

Fencing and tree removal:

Fencing and erosion control will be installed during the last 2 weeks of July. The fencing will be chain link, and will be limited to the construction zone on the northeast side of the property. The west and south sides of the property will remain open to the public during most phases of construction. The fencing will remain in place throughout construction (2.5 - 3 years).
During the last week of July, equipment will arrive at the site. Once the equipment arrives, a 24x7 security contractor will be onsite (in a truck parked at the Patterson St. entrance). The security is there to keep equipment safe and is a temporary measure until we have a more frequent presence at the site.
Tree removal will begin in early August. The process to take down, chip and haul wood will take approximately 3-4 weeks. During that time, there will be chainsaw noise, chipper noise, and truck traffic. Work will not begin before 8 a.m. and will be complete by 4 p.m. Monday - Friday.
Approximately 75% of the trees on the site will be left standing. Only the trees in the footprint of the tanks are being removed.
We are keeping all of the downed wood in the community. When possible, we will create snags and leave downed trees on the site for birds and other wildlife to use for nests, nurseries, storage areas, and perching. Other downed trees are being donated to a City of Eugene wetlands restoration project, where they will continue to provide habitat long into the future, and for public use projects in the Southeast Neighborhood and also the City of Springfield.

Earthwork:

Earthwork will begin mid-September and will last 6-8 months.
This will be a disruptive period of noise and truck traffic. See below for information about construction mitigation planning with neighbors.

Click here for a larger view of the Project Phases & Timeline.

Plans for next neighbor meeting and construction mitigation

We will host another neighbor meeting in August (date TBD) to discuss construction details and mitigation, including:

Work hours and workdays
Noisy work time
Construction schedule
Construction mitigation
Dust
Noise
Contractor staging and parking
Traffic control on Patterson
What to do if there are issues

If you have questions or input, please don’t hesitate to reach out to the project team at

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

Laura Farthing, Project Manager/Senior Civil Engineer
Jen Connors, Communications Supervisor
Jeannine Parisi, Customer Relationship Manager
Wally McCullough, Water Engineering Supervisor