MILLCREEK — The Metropolitan Water District of Salt Lake and Sandy is inviting the public to tour the newly completed Terminal Reservoir, which is designed to safely store water supplies for more than 400,000 users in the Salt Lake Valley, during an open house on Monday from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.
The new reservoir, located west of I-215 east near 3300 South, adds nearly 9 million more gallons of storage capacity, and is designed to meet current seismic standards to protect drinking water supplies in case of an earthquake and mitigate flood hazards.
The original Terminal Reservoir was built in 1951 to store water transported from Deer Creek Reservoir via a 42-mile aqueduct. Approximately 10 years ago, the water district determined the reservoir was due for replacement and began the planning and design process.
In 2011, construction began to replace the 40 million-gallon reservoir with a new system that would store up to 48.8 million gallons — the amount of water that flows over Niagara Falls in 64 seconds. Due to the need to continue supplying water to customers during construction, the project was built in five phases: new pipelines, controls, and structures were built, and then existing equipment was demolished or removed. The fifth and final phase is underway and will be completed in December.