2006 Water Comprehensive Plan - City of Bellevue

CHAPTER 3System Planning ConsiderationsThis chapter reviews past population and land use trends within the City's service area anddescribes how these trends were used to establish the planning criteria for the system.Population projections are presented, and a discussion of future land use is provided. A reviewof nearby water purveyors is also presented in order to identify the relationship of the City'ssystem with other systems in the region.WATER SYSTEM HISTORYSince World War II, the Bellevue water system has grown along with the residential areas on theeast side of Lake Washington. Originally the area was primarily served by Water Districts No.68, 97, and 99. The Bellevue service area lies between the cities of Kirkland and Redmond onthe north, and the city of Newcastle and the Coal Creek Regional Park on the south, andbetween Lake Washington on the west and Lake Sammamish and the city of Issaquah on theeast. The earliest development was on the west side of the service area in what is now thecentral part of Bellevue. Wells originally supplied water to the area and, at one time, treatedwater from Lake Washington and Lake Sammamish was used. The transition to purchasedwater from the Seattle Water Department occurred in the mid-1960s. In the early 1970s, as theCity of Bellevue grew to include most of the area served by the three water districts, the Citymoved to incorporate the three water districts into its utilities department to provide uniformwater service throughout the Bellevue service area. In January of 1994, the Rose Hill WaterDistrict was assumed by the Cities of Kirkland, Redmond and Bellevue. Bellevue assumed avery small portion of the district south of NE 60th Street between 132nd and 148th Avenues. InNovember of 1998, Bellevue assumed Water District No. 17 which provided water service to thenorthern portion of the Town of Hunts Point. On December 31, 2003, Bellevue assumed thatportion of the Coal Creek Utilities District lying within the Bellevue city limits. The assumptionarea consists of that portion of the City of Bellevue lying south of I-90 and west of 132 ndAvenue SE and its extension. In January 2004, Bellevue began receiving its water supply fromthe Cascade Water Alliance (Cascade). Cascade was established to provide for the long termwater supply needs of it members and replaced Seattle Public Utilities as Bellevue’s regionalwater supplier.POPULATION PROJECTIONSThe Bellevue Planning and Community Development Department provided populationprojections within the Bellevue water service area. The population figures were provided using3-1