DEQ awards nearly $51 million to 14 drinking water and wastewater systems across Idaho

BOISE, Idaho (KIFI) — The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) announced the award of $50,550,110 in construction grants to 14 drinking water and wastewater systems.

These construction projects are funded from American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds that Governor Brad Little directed to DEQ in 2022.

“Water is our most valuable resource, and we absolutely must keep up the infrastructure to ensure water is clean and plentiful for this generation and future ones. That is why we made historic investments in water quality and quantity this year as part of my ‘Leading Idaho’ plan,” Governor Little said. “These investments also could keep your property taxes low. Property taxes are determined locally but the investments we made in water and other infrastructure needs at the state level help relieve the burden on local government to cover costs of projects, improving the chances property owners won’t be burdened with the costs."

The following facilities received funding:

• City of Albion – The city of Albion in Cassia County was awarded $1,678,160 to increase the capacity of an existing well, drill a new well, replace the well buildings, create sampling plans and water system operations and maintenance manuals, construct a storage tank, install tank mixers, purchase a portable standby generator, improve the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition system, distribution improvements, and upgrade and replace meters.
• Eastern Idaho Regional Sewer District – Eastern Idaho Regional Sewer District in Bingham County was awarded $4,659,278 to begin Phase 1 improvements to increase the organic capacity of the biological system by achieving a higher retention time. This second biological train includes mixers, aeration diffusers, and return-activated sludge piping to reroute the return from all mixer liquor membranes to a splitter box.
• City of Filer – The city of Filer in Twin Falls County was awarded $1,471,470 to construct a new municipal drinking water well and wellhouse including piping, valves, electrical, mechanical, instrumentation, controls, Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition system, and site work.
• City of Franklin – The city of Franklin in Franklin County was awarded $253,932 to install an in-line automatic screen with a manual by-pass screen directly upstream of the treatment lagoons.
• Fremont County – Fremont County was awarded $8,800,000 to replace the Last Chance/Ponds Lodge’s existing lagoon system with a mechanical treatment system and add a discharge line to Blue Creek.
• City of Grand View – The city of Grand View in Owyhee County was awarded $1,574,160 to supplement the existing project which consists of rehabilitation and repair of well one, water quality testing and monitoring, installation of an ion exchange nitrate treatment system, and water distribution system improvements.
• City of Hagerman – The city of Hagerman in Gooding County was awarded $4,275,000 to construct a new booster pump station and distribution system and improve the current pressure zone or create a new pressure zone or a new storage tank.
• Laclede Water District – Laclede Water District in Bonner County was awarded $3,792,475 to complement their existing project. This project consists of installing a new duplex intake pump system, new duplex treated water pumps, 200,000-gallon reservoir, duplex booster pumps, visual pump failure alarms, and approximately 7,400 linear feet of transmission mains to and from the booster station.
• City of McCammon – The city of McCammon in Bannock County was awarded $1,504,495 to clean, expand, and line the winter storage lagoon, remove biosolids from Cell 1, construct a headworks building with emergency power, update the city’s Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition system, replace the city’s main lift station, repair sewer lines, install emergency power to the lift stations, and expand the wastewater reuse site.
• Murray Water Association – Murray Water Association in Shoshone County was awarded $604,746 to install two new wells and associated transmission piping.
• Riverside Water and Sewer District – Riverside Water and Sewer District in Clearwater County was awarded $1,800,000 for its drinking water system to address slush build-up in intake screens, reroute piping near the storage tanks, increase area served by the booster station, increase pumping capacity of treated water pumps to allow storage tank redundancy, and upsize existing water mains. Riverside Water and Sewer District was also awarded $1,036,394 for its wastewater system to install a new lift station, remove sludge from the first lagoon cell, and increase the size and efficiency of the chlorine contact basin.
• City of Winchester – The city of Winchester in Lewis County was awarded $4,300,000 to provide wastewater treatment and improve the collection system. Improvements include smoke testing, manhole and mainline rehabilitation, pressure pipeline replacement, lift station upgrades, nutrient reduction study, influent screening, blower replacement, yard pump station relocation, plant water system upgrades, stand-by generator replacement, control upgrades, aerobic digestion system expansion, and dewater and disinfection upgrades.
• City of Worley – The city of Worley in Kootenai County was awarded $14,800,000 to construct a new headworks and pumping facility to convey wastewater to the Coeur d’Alene Tribe treatment facility.