Members of the Oak Harbor City Council and other officials donned hard hats and orange jackets before venturing into a massive steel structure being built on the north end of the city.

They stood on a spot that will soon be 40 feet under water.

The $5-million water storage tank will add 4 million gallons of storage to the city’s supply of drinking water, which will come in handy if there’s ever a disruption in the flow of water that’s piped from the plant on the Skagit River in Mount Vernon.

Jeff Fogarty of Veterans Northwest Construction gave the city officials a tour of the project while workers installed a walkway near the top of the four-story steel walls. He said the next step will be to put the lid on the oversized container.

To council members looking around at the dirty floor, he explained that the inside of the tank will be painted with a special white epoxy before the water flows in. Everyone seemed impressed by the sheer size of the tank.

“It will hold enough water to fill our public pool six times,” City Engineer Joe Stowell said.

Stowell said the project appears to be on time and on budget. It’s supposed to be completed in November.

The reservoir is part of a series of water system improvements in the north end of town. They are aimed at increasing water storage, water pressure and fire flow availability, as well as replacing aging infrastructure.

This summer the council approved a $964,000 project for the design of a transmission main and booster station in the north end of town to meet the needs of both the city and the Navy base.

Stowell said the booster station will increase water pressure for residents in the northeast quadrant of the city.