Astoria City Council approves additional money for reservoir repairs

Published 9:00 am Thursday, July 24, 2025

The work will cost about $60K more

Astoria City Councilors greenlit an additional $57,879 for repairs to Astoria Reservoir Number Two during Monday’s council meeting.

According to Astoria City Manager Scott Spence, during the city’s annual reservoir inspection they found that several of the panels covering the reservoir to prevent evaporation had degraded, and that five would have to be replaced.

While these panels, which were installed in 2010, come with a 20-year warranty, it was determined during the panel replacement process that the reservoir had to go through a thorough disinfectant process that was not part of the initial contract.

According to Spence, in order to complete the disinfectant process the reservoir cover must be inflated, and then a high concentration of disinfectant — such as chlorine — must be sprayed on the inside of the reservoir to ensure the water system is pure once it is eventually refilled.

“That work is going to cost a total of about $50,000,” said Spence. “With a mobilization fee of about $8,000. So we are asking for an increase on the original contract up to $182,381.”

The original contract, approved by the council in March, was for panel repairs contracted by the Layfield Group amounting to $124,502. The additional cost to clean the reservoir is $50,000, and a contingency mobilization fee of $7,879 is included as an optional add-on should Layfield have to demobilize and then return to the site at a later date.

Councilor Elisabeth Adams asked if the city knows the reason why the cover failed in the first place.

“Why did the product fail? Is that something that other people have experienced or is that something that our peers have experienced,” Adams asked.

Astoria Public Works Director Jeff Harrington said that he is not aware of other reservoirs experiencing cover failure, like the one experienced by Astoria’s Reservoir Number Two.

“With material like that (the cover) in this environment here we usually get, say the life is expected to be 20 years, I would expect that we would get more than that because we have less sun,” Harrington said. “But … the issues that happened in this particular area, we think may have been related to construction.”

Harrington said that when construction took place, the reservoir liner and covers were in contact for a while during extreme heat conditions, which may have impacted their failure. However, he added that the cause cannot be determined with any degree of certainty.

Councilor Andy Davis asked Harrington what additional equipment the city is paying for within the $50,000 during the disinfectant process.

Harrington said that the cost comes from the massive blowers needed to inflate the reservoir, “and anything they need to negotiate getting in there, probably ladders, things like that — and of course disinfectant tools and materials.”

The council unanimously voted to approve funds needed to complete the disinfectant process.