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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Bill includes $1.5 million to study aquifer

Scientists studying water quantity and quality in the Spokane Valley/Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer may get up to three times more money from Congress next year for their research.

U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., announced Tuesday that a major Senate appropriations bill for the 2005 fiscal year starting Oct. 1 includes an additional $1.5 million to continue the aquifer study. That’s in addition to this year’s $500,000 appropriation for the aquifer study’s first year, which Murray, Rep. George Nethercutt, R-Wash., and Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, worked with local officials to secure last year.

The final fiscal year 2005 budget still awaits passage.

The aquifer is the sole source of drinking water for more than 400,000 people in Washington and Idaho. The study was triggered by a series of requests in 2002 by power companies for large withdrawals of water out of the aquifer in Idaho at a time when Washington had a moratorium on additional withdrawals. The proposed Idaho withdrawals were challenged by environmental groups and others concerned that the aquifer is already overused.

A memorandum of understanding for the aquifer study was signed last December. It is expected to cost $3.5 million over several years.

“This is an outstanding, improved federal commitment toward this important study,” Murray said in a press release Tuesday. “It’s in our region’s best interests to move this study forward as quickly as possible.”

Murray said she worked closely with community leaders and Craig to secure the new funding. It will be used by the U.S. Geological Survey, the Washington Department of Ecology and the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality.

The Senate VA-HUD Appropriations bill passed the Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday and now joins the Interior Appropriations bill in awaiting action by the full Senate. The Senate’s Interior Appropriations bill also includes $500,000 to continue the aquifer study, Craig’s office said.

In addition, the House Interior appropriations bill also includes $500,000 for the study, said Nethercutt spokeswoman April Isenhower.

Also Tuesday, the Natural Resources Defense Council praised the Senate Appropriations Committee for voting to add nearly a half-billion dollars in clean water funding to the VA-HUD spending bill – rejecting deep cuts proposed by the White House and approved by the House Appropriations Committee.

Over 16 years, the Clean Water State Revolving Fund has disbursed $47 billion to communities to rehabilitate aging sewer plants. This year’s federal budget proposal would have cut the fund by 37 percent from last year, the environmental group said.