Ridgefield Breaks Ground on a New Water Reservoir for the East Side

A 2.5-million-gallon elevated water tank is coming to South 5th Street — and it's going to have a mural. Monday's groundbreaking marks the start of a two-year project that will quietly shore up one of the most essential systems in town.

Mayor Matt Cole speaks at Monday evening's groundbreaking ceremony on South 5th Street.

On Monday evening, Mayor Matt Cole stood before city councilmembers, project partners, and city staff at a site on South 5th Street to mark the official start of the Eastside Elevated Water Reservoir project — an infrastructure undertaking that's been years in the planning.

The project will build a new 2.5-million-gallon elevated water storage tank on City-owned land. When finished in June 2028, it will be the first elevated reservoir serving Ridgefield's east side, adding critical redundancy and pressure support to what's known as the "high zone" — the part of the system that covers most of the city, including the Junction area.

The $15 million price tag is being covered through a low-interest construction loan from the Washington Department of Health's Drinking Water State Revolving Fund, plus Water System Development Charges collected through the permit process for new development. In other words, growth is funding the infrastructure it requires — a financing approach the city has leaned into intentionally.

Council members and project partners turn dirt at the South 5th Street site.

More Than Just a Tank

The scope goes beyond just the reservoir itself. The project also includes site grading and earthwork, landscaping, irrigation, perimeter fencing, electrical and instrumentation systems, stormwater facilities, and utility improvements.

Perhaps most visibly: a mural. Mayor Cole mentioned that the reservoir will be painted with the word "RIDGEFIELD" and the city's signature sandhill crane silhouette, creating a landmark on the local skyline. It's a detail that takes what could have been a purely utilitarian project and turns it into something the community can actually see and feel connected to.

Before construction began, the existing structure on the site was demolished through a training burn conducted with Clark-Cowlitz Fire & Rescue — saving demolition costs while giving fire crews a real-world training exercise. A tidy bit of multi-purpose planning.

Why It Matters for Growth

Ridgefield is planning for roughly 10,000 additional residents and 8,000 new jobs by 2045. The additional storage and pressure support from this reservoir will play a direct role in keeping up with that pace — improving fire flow, water availability during peak demand, and overall system redundancy as more of the east side develops.