Idaho funds nearly $60 million in regional water projects

Published 8:00 am Wednesday, July 26, 2023

Workers reline concrete on the upper New York Canal in central Boise. The Idaho Water Resource Board is providing part of the funding for the project.

MOSCOW, Idaho — The Idaho Water Resource Board at its July 21 meeting in Moscow approved spending $59.4 million overall on nine projects designed to make supply more sustainable in various regions.

The projects were the first selected from the board’s regional priority list that helps guide spending on large-scale work designed to increase system sustainability.

Funding comes from American Rescue Plan Act and state budget-surplus money. Gov. Brad Little proposed this spending and the legislature approved it.

Projects must help to achieve water-supply sustainability on a regional, basin-wide or statewide basis, according to criteria the board approved in early 2022. The priority list in the past year was further refined to include projects that are shovel-ready and meet the board’s funding criteria.

The board is “pleased to fund these worthy projects in our first round of project awards,” Jo Ann Cole-Hansen, the board’s finance committee chair, said in a release. The availability of state surplus and federal funds creates a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity in invest in modernizing our water infrastructure across the state.”

The finance committee recommended approval of the projects after hearing presentations from project sponsors in public meetings in June.

More projects from the regional priority list will be funded in the future, Cole-Hansen said.

Funded projects

• New York Canal lining in Boise: $25 million. Total cost: $50 million.

• American Falls Dam spillway rehabilitation and maintenance: $12.5 million. Total project cost: $23.1 million.

• North Fremont canal system: $7.8 million. Total cost: $19 million.

• Raft River pipeline: $7 million.Total cost: $49 million.

• Gooding flood control work: $4 million. Total cost: $40 million.

• Nampa reuse pipeline: $3 million. Total cost: $180 million.

• Lost Valley Reservoir enlargement environmental impact statement and engineering update: $560,000. Total cost: $1.1 million.

• Palouse Basin Aquifer water-supply study: $182,500. Total cost: $365,000.

• Treasure Valley Water Supply study: $155,500. Total cost: $155,000.

The Idaho Water Resource Board at its July 21 meeting in Moscow approved 10 flood-management grants totaling just over $1 million.

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