Idaho to receive $2 million to protect water quality

Federal officials are awarding Idaho about $2 million in grants for 10 projects intended to protect water quality.

The U.S. Environmental Protection announced the awards Thursday to the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality.

The money is aimed at what are called nonpoint source pollutants that aren’t always subject to federal or state regulation.

The federal agency says that includes agricultural runoff, drainage from abandoned mines, unpermitted urban runoff and failing disposal systems.

Officials say about $200,000 will be used in a 5-year study involving the Potlatch River in northern Idaho.

About $165,000 will be used on about 1,000 acres of farmland to reduce sediment in the Lower Payette River.

Another $75,000 is headed to eastern Idaho for the Teton County Soil Health Initiative to compare cover crop and conservation tillage methods with conventionally farmed plots.