Aquifer protection district proposed

Two North Idaho lawmakers want to create an aquifer protection district that would generate money to help protect the water source that serves more than 500,000 people in Kootenai and Spokane counties.

Reps. Bob Nonini and Frank Henderson, both Post Falls Republicans, plan to propose a bill in the Idaho Legislature to create the district that would allow Kootenai County to collect an annual user fee from people who live over the Spokane Valley-Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer or in an aquifer recharge area.

The Aquifer Protection District Steering Committee is giving a public presentation on the proposal tonight at 6 at Post Falls City Hall. The public is invited to give input and ask questions. Post Falls also will simultaneously broadcast the presentation on cable Channel 13.

Henderson said the initial fee would be about $8 per year, which would generate about $350,000 annually to help fund education, monitoring and enforcement programs to protect the aquifer. The fee could eventually reach $24 per year.

“The focus is solely on protecting the quality,” Henderson said. “All the other studies are on the quantity of the aquifer – who is using it and how much.”

Henderson said there isn’t enough state money available to allow the regulating agencies, such as the Panhandle Health District and the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, to educate the public about how to protect the aquifer and to monitor it for various types of pollution such as storm water runoff.

Kootenai County Commission Chairman Gus Johnson said the proposal has merit. He wants to make sure the program wouldn’t require the county to hire extra staff.

Henderson said the county commission wouldn’t have to hire more staff. Instead the county would appoint an advisory board to make recommendations on how the money should be spent each year. Regulatory agencies could apply to the county for the money. The county commissioners would have the final say on how the money is spent.

Spokane County has had an Aquifer Protection Area for about 20 years, which charges property owners within the area an annual $15 fee. People with a well on their land pay an additional $15 fee.

The money is primarily used to get property owners in the Spokane Valley off septic systems and hooked into the sewer system, said Rob Lindsay, the county’s water resource manager. Some of the money goes toward monitoring and education about the aquifer.

Lindsay said he thinks it’s a great idea for Kootenai County to have a similar program.