Where will the new city water reservoir go? - KXLT - Fox 47 Rochester MN News, Weather and Sports

ROCHESTER, Minn. (FOX 47) -- Where to build a new city water reservoir is the focus at Rochester Public Utility meetings lately.

Just a few weeks back, some people were concerned after hearing a new reservoir may be built at St. Marys Park, but plans have since changed. We are told St. Marys Park is no longer one of the options. Now the board is reviewing some other "key" locations.

As the city grows, there is a greater demand for a larger water storage facility and a need to renovate the city's oldest underground water reservoir. The concern is where to build it. The city's current reservoir was constructed in 1917 and is located at 4th Street S.E. The reservoirs are incredibly big, holding millions of gallons of water.

"Looking at the 4th Street reservoir site and building something there would probably encroach on some parking spaces there," RPU Board President Jerry Williams said. "We're going to look at the old Fullerton Lumberyard site in the northwest corner as a possibility, and now that we've decided to decommission Silver Lake Power Plant, that's a possibility too."

The Fullerton Lumberyard site is currently a Mayo parking lot, but we're told Mayo is willing to lease the space located just south of the government building. As the RPU board moves forward, their biggest concern is looking at underground water pipes.

"We still have a lot of work to do, looking at infrastructure kinds of things, because we need to tie it into some already existing infrastructure within the system, well underground," said Williams.

Facts and figures will be released to the public about these key locations, hopefully, at September's meeting. A vote is set to take place as soon as next month or as late as October.