Idaho awards grants for fixing aging water infrastructure
By Brad Carlson; Capital Press Joe Tackett and Greg Curtis of Nampa and Meridian, Idaho, Irrigation District at the Ridenbaugh Canal headworks on the Boise River. Brad Carlson/Capital Press The Idaho Water Resource Board on Sept. 16 approved 12 grants totaling $12.5 million to upgrade aging irrigation infrastructure. The board’s finance committee on Sept. 8 endorsed the grant recipients and dollar amounts, which the full board approved. The board received 31 requests for a combined $41 million. A single region cannot get more than half of the money. In the southwest, for example, the state approved a grant of $1.82 million rather than the $3.18 million Nampa and Meridian Irrigation District requested to modernize Ridenbaugh Canal. District directors will decide how to proceed with the project, said Greg Curtis, water…