EPHRATA — The City of Ephrata has been busy with a variety of projects this year. Water, sewer and roads have all been areas addressed in 2025. 

“We finished our street and sewer projects for this year,” City Engineer Shawn O’Brien said. “We'll continue working on street maintenance and sewer maintenance, but those are all projects for next year.”  

Water tower 

The water tower is fully built and is now in its painting phase, according to O’Brien. 

“The scaffolding is nearly complete, and they are starting this week with completing the prime coat of paint on the interior,” he said. “They will continue with the interior and get a total of three coats of paint, and that should be completed, probably, by the end of the month.” 

After the scaffolding is done, a tent will be placed over the entire structure, and painting on the outside will begin. This includes three coats as well. On the outside, the city decided to paint two Ephrata School District “E” logos in two locations on the exterior.  

The tower, costing around $15 million, will improve water pressure throughout the city and hold around 3.8 million gallons of water, according to a previous interview with Ephrata Mayor Bruce Reim. The tower is expected to be filled by fall, according to O’Brien.  

Wells 

The city is adding one new well and deepening another. Well 11 is set to be drilled to replace Well 6, O’Brien said.  

“Well 6 was not in a good location and the existing construction was not adequate to rehabilitate that well,” he said. “Well 11 is being drilled off Division Street out towards the airport and we're anticipating it to be around 900 feet deep.” 

Then Well 5 is being deepened from around 450 feet to about 635 feet, O’Brien said. However, the final depth will be decided while working with the Department of Ecology.  

“I want to say we're down to 620 feet and have to take the rock samples to determine which layers of basalt rock we're into, and work with the Department of Ecology to determine how deep we have to cast that well,” he said.  

The two wells will be completed this year. However, the pump houses are being budgeted for next year. 

“Well drilling just produces the hole in the ground, and the pump house project next year will actually put the pump in the hole and build that pump house with all the controls and valving at the ground surface,” O’Brien said.  

The total cost of the project is around $1.09 million.  

“These will produce additional sources of water supply for the system to meet current demands and future growth,” O’Brien said. 

Sewer  

The original wastewater treatment plant was built in the 1990s, according to O’Brien. The project updates all of the treatment processes to make it more efficient. The cost of the project was around $9.8 million.  

“It will hopefully produce a more refined product,” O’Brien said. 

The upgrades also include adding a purple pipe, which delivers water for landscaping, among other things, to be used by the new Grant County Jail and the Port of Ephrata. The purple pipe is color-coded for use in moving reclaimed or processed water.

“The wastewater treatment plant, for the past nearly 30 years, has produced water that meets drinking water standards, and that water, even though it isn’t used for potable sources, can be used for a wide range of uses,” O’Brien said. “The city has never taken advantage of that, partly because the treatment plant is located outside of town.” 

The purple pipe project takes the non-potable water and provides a system for the water to be delivered to the jail and the port.  

“This water can have a lot of uses for everything from irrigation to industrial uses,” O’Brien said. “Hopefully, that can be used as a commodity to attract future industry.” 

Roads 

After months of planning and construction, Nat Washington Way and nearly 40 other streets have received chip seal work this year.  

“The ones that got significantly improved are all a bunch of little, small sections. But Nat Washington Way was the largest section of street we chip-sealed,” he said.  

The total cost of all the roadwork was around $1.1 million, with around $158,000 coming from the Transportation Improvement Board grant.  

All of the road projects for the year are complete, O’Brien said. However, there are plans for more chip sealing in 2026. 

    Ephrata received more than $6 million in funding to upgrade the town's wastewater treatment plant. The facility will receive significant improvements that will help ensure it can meet the demand in the future.