Newport City Council to make “fund transfer” to finish the town’s new drinking water treatment plant
Big Creek Dam/Water Intake House
Newport City Councilors Monday night are expected to authorize spending an additional $300,000 on the currently under-construction water treatment plant at Big Creek Reservoir. The extra nearly third of a million dollars is to finish up the last of the project that has chartered a difficult course from what some claimed was due to an incomplete vision of what the city wanted. But this last snag was due to what Public Works Director Tim Gross said was not knowing the condition of the lower dam. Gross said it was discovered the dam was not strong enough to support a much heavier water intake system for the plant. Gross said the extra money will build a structure that will work. But he added that eventually the city will have to confront issues surrounding the dam itself.
Gross said the $16 million dollar water treatment plant is expected to be finished and running by the end of June.
