Upon a hilltop that once was the home of an Orem rodeo grounds and overlooking the city below, Orem city and Central Utah Water Conservancy District officials dedicated the new jointly funded $20 million water storage reservoir.

Design engineers, contractors, District representatives and Orem officials credited the success of the massive project to an unparalleled spirit of teamwork among all those involved.

"This is a big deal for us," said Orem Mayor Jerry Washburn of Tuesday's project milestone.

Referring to the Orem Cub Scout Pack 491 honor guard unit that posted the flag at the ceremony, he said the foresight and courage of planners and decision makers will not only benefit water users in Orem and across Utah Valley, but also their children and grandchildren for generations. Seventy percent of the county's population growth, Washburn, is from within.

"My hat is off to the decision makers," he said. "Twenty million gallons is one whale of a lot of water."

Despite water conservation efforts, Orem residents who use roughly about 9 to 10 million gallons of water per day during the winter, use about 55 to 60 million gallons of water a day during peak summer usage, mostly for irrigation, he said.

Going back in the city's history, District project manager David Pitcher said Orem's first two water tanks held only 2 million gallons a piece. They were located very close to where the new tank now stands. Engineers and contractors were able to maximize the limitations of the site of the new reservoir to construct the massive drum-shaped reservoir with the highest capacity possible, he said.

"This is as big as we could make it," said District project manager Cort Lambson.

The water tank, he said, will provide Orem extra breathing room during peak summer hours and provide Central Utah Water with a backup supply if the water treatment plant is temporarily down.

Rick Wheadon of Carollo Engineers said designers grappled with several problems with the site including the steep hillside, its compact footprint size, and issues of where to store and then replace tons of displaced soil.

"The question we all restrained ourselves from asking was 'You want to do what with this site?'," he said.

If people consume the recommended 64 ounces of water per day, that's one-half gallon of water, Pitcher said. That would mean, theoretically, a supply of 20 million gallons should be enough to sustain a population of 40 million residents. Though they don't anticipate a future population that large, Pitcher said even Orem city's allotment of the water reservoir, 10 million gallons, is technically enough to support 20 million people.

"There's enough water coming out of [Provo] Canyon that it would fill the tank in an hour," he said.