The Grants Pass City Council accepted a bid at their Wednesday night meeting for the construction of a replacement reservoir for Reservoir No. 3.

The current reservoir was built in 1949 and can hold up to 3.5 million gallons of water. During repairs in 2009 and 2010 it was discovered the concrete was spalling and steel corrosion was found indicating an eventual roof failure.

The new reservoir will contain five million gallons of water and will be able to deal with high river turbidity and allow for down time for maintenance.

An engineering firm predicted the project will cost $5.53 million dollars and bids were entered by seven different companies. The lowest bid that was accepted by council was for $4.76 million dollars by Ward-Henshaw Construction Co. Inc., based out of Canby, Ore.

To pay for the reservoir, the city has $223,000 in the Water Capitol Improvement Program, $250,000 in the general fund, $697,000 in System Development Charges and a full faith and credit bond with a maximum limit of $6 million to allocate towards construction. The water department plans to pay for the construction using the bond and allow the city money to be used as a contingency.

Construction on the reservoir may begin as early as April 1.