A largely grant-funded project aims to connect over 120 City of Yakima households to City utilities.
The Expanding Water and Wastewater Access to Underserved Communities project will expand water and sewer infrastructure to northeast and south-central areas in the City where utility services currently do not exist.
The northeast area includes North 4th Street between East ‘R’ Street and Interstate 82, North 3rd Street between East ‘R’ Street and East O Street, East Q Street and the alley between North 3rd Street and North 4th Street. South-central area includes South 10th Avenue between Spokane Street and West Mead Avenue, and Woodland Avenue between Pleasant Avenue and South 10th Avenue.
The project is separated into two distinct phases. The first phase, which is currently being constructed, will extend the pipelines in the right-of-way with services stubbed to each property line. The second phase will construct the physical connection between the service stubs and the homes, on individual properties.
The north east area aims to connect 43 households to City sewer and 35 households to City water. The south-central area aims to connect 42 households to City sewer and 12 households to City water.
When work is complete, these households will be able to connect to City services at no cost to them. The project received a $4.9 million grant from the U.S. Department of Interior through the Bureau of Reclamation’s WaterSMART Drought Resiliency funding program. A City match of $260,489 is required.
Funding covers all project expenses including pipeline extensions within the right-of-way (Phase 1), physical connection between the service stubs at property lines and the homes (Phase 2), and connection fees for all identified properties within the project boundary. If no home currently exists on a property, service stubs will be extended to the property line and a connection fee will be credited against the property to allow physical connection to a future home without assessing a future connection fee. Credited connection fees will be one Equivalent Residential Unit (ERU) per property.
The City of Yakima is committed to providing safe and reliable drinking water to all residents within the City. Many properties without City water and sewer services are using shallow individual water and septic systems. With annual drought declarations becoming the new norm, these shallow wells are becoming less and less reliable, posing public health and safety concerns. Due to the close proximity of septic systems on the same property, shallow wells also pose considerable risk to public health because of their susceptibility to contamination. The current aging septic systems may not meet present wastewater treatment standards and could be contaminating the nearby shallow wells. Residents will benefit from improved water quality by being connected to the safe and reliable City water and sewer systems.
Work on Phase 1 began June 23rd and is scheduled for completion in February 2026. Phase 2 is scheduled for construction from March 2026 to October 2026. Temporary traffic control is necessary at times, although local access will be maintained.
Contact Water/Irrigation Engineer Chad Redick at 509-575-6204 or chad.redick@yakimawa.gov for more information about the project.