Spokane County has awarded contracts totaling about $4 million for two sewer-line projects in the Spokane Valley and Liberty Lake areas intended to eliminate septic tanks.

The county has awarded the Post Falls office of Bismarck, N.D.-based Knife River Corp. a $2.4 million contract to install sewer lines and individual stubs for lots in an area that encompasses parts of the cities of Spokane Valley and Liberty Lake. Separately, the county has awarded a $1.7 million contract for similar work in Spokane Valley near Evergreen Road to Owens Construction Inc., of Coeur d'Alene.

Work on the project awarded to Knife River likely will begin today, May 20, says Tim Schwab, a plans and contracts engineer for the county.

The project entails installing sewer line and 167 sewer hookup stubs in an area bounded on the west by Barker Road, on the north by Mission Avenue, and on the south by Boone Avenue and a railroad right of way. The project extends east into Liberty Lake, and its eastern boundary is roughly Glenbrook Road, but includes lengths of Baldwin Avenue, Nora Avenue, and Augusta Court there. It also includes portions of Grady, Hodges, and Aladdin roads, as well as Maxwell Avenue and Cavalier, Caulfield, Colonial, and Myers courts, Schwab says. The cities of Spokane Valley and Liberty Lake are paying for repaving the streets there once the sewer lines are installed, he says.

Owens Construction soon will begin work on a similar project in Spokane Valley, just northwest of the Knife River project. That project will entail installing 218 new sewer stubs and associated sewer pipe. The project includes portions of Indiana Avenue west of Flora Road to the Spokane River; Indiana between Greenacres and Barker Road; Long Road between Mission and Indiana avenues; Riverway Avenue between Barker Road and Montgomery Avenue; Montgomery between Flora and Long; Greenacres Road between Indiana and Mission; and portions of McKee Road and Baldwin Avenue west of Barker Road.

Schwab says Spokane County has just a few more projects remaining to complete its long-term effort to connect county residences to its sewer system, including one just south of the Owens Construction work.