Current Projects

Ever since your Special Purpose Water District was founded in 1931, one of our guiding principles has been proactive infrastructure management.

By systematically improving our water system a little bit each year, this keeps everything in top form, and spreads out the cost to remain more affordable to ratepayers—rather than delaying maintenance and getting surprised with a massive problem and/or rate increase.

Routine Infrastructure Improvements Underway:

6th Avenue NE and NE 168th Street Water Main

In keeping with this philosophy, we are currently addressing the following projects:

In the southwest corner of our District, near the Lynnwood Link Shoreline South Light rail station, new development is planned on 6th Avenue, south of NE 155th. The District is taking the lead on upsizing the water main on 6th Avenue this summer, with a contract that began at the end of April.  The connections on NE 148th and NE 152nd Streets were installed in 2023; this summer the area on NE 168th Street at 25th Avenue NE will have its water main replaced.  All of these projects affect water movement in the southern part of our District.

NE 155th Street Water Main

Back in 2012, when the old Bingo Hall located at the intersection of 5th Avenue NE and NE 165th Street was being redeveloped, the developer was required to do several water system improvements to help get adequate fire flow to the property.

Those system improvements were already included our longer-term goals, however by proposing a shared cost arrangement with the developer, we were able to complete the improvements ahead of schedule, and best of all, at half the cost.

The result was the creation of a new pressure zone at the apex of the Ridgecrest Neighborhood, at the same time that we were already creating a similar new pressure zone at the apex of the North City Neighborhood—both classified as “615 pressure zones” because the water pressure is approximately 615 feet above mean sea level.

During those 2012 improvement efforts, several sections of the water main were upsized to 8″ along NE 155th Street, while other 6″ sections that were still in good shape remained.  Fast forward more than a decade, and we’re planning to upsize those remaining 6″ water mains on NE 155th Street, from 6th to 15th Avenues NE, and connect them to an existing large diameter north/south water main.  This project is currently under review; we expect to start construction on it later this summer.

Water Main on 41st Street to Beach Drive

Consor Engineering consultants was hired to help us explore options for locating the additional water supply line to the area. After investigating multiple scenarios, they recommended connecting the existing water main on 41st Street with the water main on Beach Drive, and our Board agreed this was the most efficient and cost effective approach. Once we receive the final permit from King County Parks for crossing the Burke Gilman Trail, our contractor, B&B Utilities and Excavating is ready to begin and expects to complete the project in the near future.

Water Main on Beach Drive Crossing

Psomas was hired to help us identify the best method to connect a water main under McAleer Creek that had been capped off on either side of the creek. After considering several options and working with the City of Lake Forest Park, we agreed to use a “boring” machine instead of replacing and connecting the two existing water mains… as shown in the illustration below. The District has completed multiple State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) checklists and a Critical Areas report. We are hoping to advertise for construction soon.

Past Major Construction Projects: