Baker City contracts helicopter for water line project
By Logan Bagett on Friday, June 6th, 2025 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
BAKER CITY — The City of Baker City has provided an update on a major project that’s been underway.
Staff report their multi-year water transmission line project that takes them up a mountainside is just over halfway complete. The Baker City Public Works team have been working to replace “smaller concrete pipe installed in the 1930’s, with much larger 24-inch C900-16 Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) DR 25 pipe,” according to officials.
Each section of pipe measures 14 feet long and weighs around 900 pounds. Instead of making costly adjustments to widen the road to the project site, the bigger pieces of pipe were flown in by helicopter, which was reportedly faster and more cost-effective. City officials report nearly 5,000 lineal feet of the larger pipe was flown up the mountain to their project site.
The city reports that, “The use of a helicopter transport saves ratepayer dollars, equipment wear, and valuable time in transport as well as preserving the safety of our crew by averting ground transport. Helicopter transport allows our crews to get an extra two to three weeks of work on the project which is hugely helpful since construction time is limited between the snow melt and the beginning of fire season.”
The goal of the project is to help maintain water quality from Baker City’s surface water sources to the water treatment facility in town.
**City of Baker City’s photos**
