The Whitefish City Council March 2 voted unanimously to award the contract for phase 1 of the south Whitefish water tower to Landmark Structures for about $6.6 million. 

The first part of the project includes the construction of a 1-million-gallon storage tank at the city shop on West 18th Street. Four bids were received for the composite elevated tank, and the lowest bid, about $6.6 million, is $132,000 over the engineer’s $6.5 million estimate. 

Additional water storage is needed to meet the Montana Department of Environmental Quality’s fire flow demands, and the city has been working on it for 10 years. 

Whitefish Public Works Director Craig Workman said the first phase of the project included an update to the city’s water distribution system model. Preliminary storage tank sizing and site location analysis were also completed. 

“There are three phases to this project. Phase two will be the water main coming up Eighteenth Street,” he said. “There’s a third phase which will be a water main connecting on Spokane to that new water main with a booster station.” 

“All in, we’re talking about probably $18 to $20 million total,” he added. 

The project will be funded through State Revolving Fund loans, the final approval of which is expected this week, along with about $1 million from impact fee funds. 

Phase 2 will be discussed at the next council meeting.