The Poway City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to issue up to $38 million in bonds for construction of two 4 million-gallon concrete water tanks at the Lester J. Berglund Water Treatment Plant.

Building the tanks to replace an outdated 10 million-gallon water storage reservoir near Lake Poway is the city’s largest capital improvement program since it incorporated in 1980, said Shadi Sami, principal civil engineer of Poway’s public works department.

The new water storage system is needed to provide safe and reliable water service now that the existing system has reached the end of its useful life, she told council members. The new concrete tanks are expected to be durable and long-lasting, she said.

(Editor’s note: The City of Poway is one of the San Diego County Water Authority’s 24 member agencies that deliver water across the San Diego County region.)