St. Maries Faces Drinking Water Dilemma Bond Election Coming Up, But Lots Of Questions Still Remain

The city of St. Maries, under pressure to comply with federal safe drinking water regulations, is holding a $5.5 million revenue bond election Nov. 4.

But city officials still don’t have all the information they need to ensure voters will be well-informed on Election Day.

Voters are faced with the choice of spending millions of dollars on a sophisticated filtration system for their Rochat Creek water source or going with newly drilled wells.

City officials aren’t certain, however, whether new wells would provide enough water for the city, and they don’t have time to find out.

“We can’t get them a second option,” said City Councilman George Currier.

The city has been out of compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act since 1993, when new rules went into effect that require treatment of surface water systems.

Now the city’s up against a deadline to upgrade its surface water system or switch to ground water.

The city has ground-water wells for use as a backup to Rochat Creek, but those wells are contaminated with manganese. Although it poses no health threat, manganese tastes bad and stains clothing.

A test well drilled near the source of the ground water came out clean, but the city needs to drill a second well to find out if the source is large enough to sate the city’s thirst.

However, drilling the second well has been delayed by the discovery that the site is a wetland. Installing a production well in a wetland requires a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, a process that is bound to stretch past the November election date.

“There are so many hoops to jump through,” Currier said. “We hoped to say we had a viable alternative to Rochat Creek that would cost half as much, but the way the whole thing is unfolding, we can’t do that.”

An advisory vote earlier this year indicated that residents prefer to stick with the creek even though the filtration system is expensive.

Whichever route it chooses, the city is in line to receive financial assistance from the state through a revolving loan program made possible by last year’s amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act.

Idaho is supposed to receive $14 million from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for the fund, and St. Maries is near the top of the priority list.

But the state will issue a loan only for the amount of the most cost-effective solution, so the loan may not cover the entire bill for upgrading Rochat Creek.

Bill Jerrel, loan specialist with the Idaho Division of Environmental Quality, said the agency hasn’t determined what the most cost-effective solution is.

If St. Maries passes the bond, the state agency would use that as collateral for the loan, Jerrel said.

, DataTimes