The Hermiston City Council and Umatilla County Commissioners officially helped break ground on a new $4.1 million project to add stored water capacity to the city and stimulate additional housing development at an event Wednesday afternoon.
Mayor Dave Drotzmann cited the benefit of opening more than 300 acres of residential land to development during his remarks, and thanked the commissioners for their financial partnership on the project.
Umatilla County Commissioner George Murdock praised the project for leveraging funds directly generated by industrial development by Lamb Weston in to stimulating more housing to benefit the workforce necessary to fill the growing employment base.
Work had already begun on the site, with the contractor beginning to prepare the base for a new water tower on Monday. The new 124-foot-tall water tower is anticipated to be fully erected by September, with the system becoming operational before the end of 2019.
Additional background regarding the project can be found on the city of Hermiston website.
