Applicants for aquifer board reviewed

Twenty-eight people including state lawmakers, engineers and water board members have applied to serve on a board for the Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer Protection District, which was approved by voters in November.

Kootenai County commission Chairman Rick Currie said it will probably take a few weeks for the commission to review the applications and set a date to make the appointments.

He said the county must ensure each applicant lives over the aquifer, the source of drinking water for more than 500,000 people.

Currie said he was impressed by the amount of interest.

“Just by the names we recognize we will have an excellent board,” Currie said Friday.

By law, nine members of the new Policy and Budget Advisory Committee must have specific backgrounds ranging from a representative of an irrigation district and private water system to an environmental organization and citizen consumer.

The district will collect funds, around $300,000 a year, for preventing pollution and monitoring the quality of water in the aquifer.

Kootenai County residents who live above the Rathdrum Prairie-Spokane Valley Aquifer will pay $6 a year per household, and businesses will pay $12 a year to protect the underground drinking water supply.

The following is a list of applicants: Ronald Johnson, Karl Harmon, Bert Rohrbach, Roselinde Kennedy, Mike Mihelich, Jim Markley, Jeffrey Smith, Paul Klatt, David Moseley, Thomas DePew, Jim Clark, Ralph Noyes and Linda Davis.

More applicants are: George Rekow, Kristy Reed Johnson, J. Allen Isaacson, Scott Ward, Wayne Meyer, Robert Turnipseed, Dale Marcy, Bruce Noble, Terry Harwood, David Weinstein, Steve Foxx, Freeman Duncan, Terry Werner, Tim Herzog and Larry Hice.

For more information, call the commission office at (208) 446-1600.