26Oct 2022 by Nicole Rinaldi

Feds Sue Driggs, Idaho for Excess Pollutants in Wastewater

Idaho News, National News
Bloomberg Law The City of Driggs, Idaho illegally discharged pollutants from its sewer system, the US says in a lawsuit alleging violations of the Clean Water Act. Driggs’ wastewater treatment plant and sewage collection system failed to comply with the city’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit, which allowed it to release wastewater from an outfall if it followed certain discharge limits, according to the lawsuit. The complaint, filed Monday in the US District Court for the District of Idaho, says the city didn’t comply with the permit’s limits for E. coli, ammonia, and other biochemicals on various days within the past five years. Some sampling records lacked signatures, dates, and times, the lawsuit said. The EPA entered into a consent agreement with the city in 2018 to resolve the…
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19Oct 2022 by Nicole Rinaldi

Kooskia council approves $100,000 for water facility plan

Idaho News
By Hannah Hale; Idaho Free County Press Kooskia City Hall. Free Press Archives KOOSKIA — During a meeting on Oct. 12, the Kooskia City Council discussed the sewer project and the water facility plan, both set to improve these municipal systems. Michelle Bly from TD & H Engineering spoke to the council and provided insight into the legalities of the sewer projects. The first topic discussed was the sewer project. The engineering and developing portion of this project, headed by Mountain WW, has created a “blueprint” of what needs to be done to the sewer system to keep it functional. There is about 3,200 feet of sewer line that needs to be fixed. After being submitted to Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), which is the state agency that looks…
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07Feb 2022 by Nicole Rinaldi

State eyes ‘once in lifetime’ opportunity to upgrade local water, sewer systems

Idaho News
By Betsy Z. Russell; Idaho Press BOISE — The proposed budget for the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality for next year shows something unusual: A 100.7% increase in total funds from this year. The reason: A “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make investments in infrastructure projects that will have an impact for generations to come,” according to state DEQ Director Jess Byrne. Byrne presented the budget to the Legislature’s Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee on Thursday, including proposals from Gov. Brad Little to spend hundreds of millions in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds over the next five years for major upgrades to city drinking and wastewater systems; closing old landfills; addressing contaminated, abandoned mine sites across the state; and more. “When the ARPA dollars arrived, the first thing the governor said was, ‘I…
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