Spokane County has awarded an $8.9 million contract to Eller Corp., of Newman Lake, to construct the pipelines, called force mains, that will carry wastewater to the county's planned new wastewater treatment plant in east Spokane and will carry treated wastewater from the plant to the Spokane River.

The force mains will carry untreated effluent from two pump stations to be built by Goebel Construction Inc., of Spokane, that will divert flow from two main pipelines in the Spokane Valley area that carry sewage from county residents' homes to the city of Spokane's sewage system, says Roxane LaSalle, Spokane County utilities program specialist.

The county's two main sewer lines are called the north valley sewer interceptor line and the south valley interceptor.

The north valley interceptor runs generally along the south side of the Spokane River, and serves about one-third of the county's sewer customers. The south valley interceptor serves about two-thirds of the county's customers and generally runs along Fourth Avenue, south of Interstate 90.

The north valley interceptor pump station is to be constructed on property that the county bought from the Community Colleges of Spokane, east of the Spokane Community College campus near the alignment of Havana Street. The south valley interceptor pump station will be constructed near the intersection of Fourth and Myrtle Street, says Dave Moss, the county's water reclamation section manager.

The force mains will run from each of those pump stations to the planned Spokane County Regional Water Reclamation Facility. The county recently broke ground for that facility at the site of the former stockyards, at 1004 N. Freya, in Spokane, and design work is under way on the $148 million project (See related story, Page One.).

In addition to the force mains, Eller will construct an outfall pipe to carry treated effluent from the planned facility to the Spokane River.

The construction schedule for the project hasn't been set yet, but the work is slated to be completed by October 2010, LaSalle says.