Council green lights new drinking water well

By Terry Murry on Friday, March 25th, 2022 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories

COLLEGE PLACE – The College Place City Council unanimously approved two separate resolutions for professional services agreement associated with a proposed new drinking water well at its regular meeting this week. Well No. 7 would be located on a five-acre piece of property purchased by the city on Teal Lane.

The first resolution passed by the council authorizes City Administrator Mike Rizzitiello to sign a professional services agreement with RH2 Engineering of Richland, Washington, to assist in adjusting the city’s water rights to add this new well as an additional point of withdrawal. The Teal Road property purchase took place before the city’s water rights were last updated. The city must have water rights before Well No. 7 can be added. RH2 Engineering plans to provide support for this process from beginning to end for a fee of $19,230. The approved resolution for this part of the project is budgeted for $20,000.

The second resolution passed by the council was for RH2 Engineering to design and engineer, and then conduct construction management of the drilling process of Well No. 7 for $565,000.

When the city put out a request for qualifications, RH2 Engineering was the only firm to submit a proposal. Public Works Director Robert McAndrews said the firm has been very involved with the city in the past, having assisted with other water infrastructure needs in the city.