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With eyes on the future, the Electric City Council voted last week to move ahead with a 10-inch pipeline for the proposed Sunbanks Lake Resort water project.

It will cost the city between $18,000 and $20,000 to expand the size of the pipeline from one that is 8 inches in diameter to a 10-inch pipe, but the move will put the city in a good position to deal with anticipated future housing expansion on the south side of Osborn Bay.

The 10-inch line will go some 1,700 feet from the old vacated western store on highway 155 to the entrance to Sunbanks Lake Resort, where it will be capped. Sunbanks will tap onto the line with a 6-inch line to serve the park.

The problem the city has is how to get water to future development on the other side of the causeway.

Recently the city tested Port District wells to see if existing wells could service the future addition of homes near the golf course. When that was a bust, the city tested some residential wells in the area but found that the arsenic content was far too high.

That prompted Mayor Jerry Sands to appear at last month’s Port District meeting to see if commissioners would agree to let the city drill a well on its property to see if the city could find a water source that would serve development.

While Port District commissioners didn’t say no, they didn’t agree to the idea either.

Sands’ report to the council wasn’t too encouraging, and the idea of putting the 10-inch line across the causeway might end up being the city’s best bet in providing water to future residences.

The city has had discussions with officials on putting the line across the causeway, but it is trying to find a way to avoid the cost.

“If we spend money to fix the water problem, future developers will pay for the cost,” Sands stated to the council.