Aquifer protection district makes plans for fiscal year

Just six months after its creation, the new Kootenai County Aquifer Protection District has finalized its annual budget and adopted an action plan for protecting the Spokane Valley/Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer.

Both were approved by the district’s governing body, the Kootenai County Board of Commissioners, earlier this month.

Freeman Duncan, chairman of the protection district, said a $300,000 budget has been set for the fiscal year that began in July and runs through June 2008.

To fund its work, an $8 fee will be charged on every property within the district’s borders. Figures show 58,556 parcels atop the aquifer area. Owners will be notified of the fee on annual tax bills.

Although the fee is not a tax, it will appear and be collected through the taxation district to save the expense of creating and maintaining a separate notification system, Duncan said.

District leaders, he added, chose to charge less than the $12 allowable maximum fee it could have established, Duncan said.

Together, the Panhandle Health District and the state Department of Environmental Quality will carry out most of the initiatives put forth by the aquifer protection district.

Plans call for the PHD to do such things as create a community outreach/education program; continue inspecting and monitoring community water, solid-waste disposal and to continue its sewage management program.

The DEQ is being asked to fund an “evapotranspiration” data-gathering program.

Such a study would determine how much total water is lost to the atmosphere because of evaporation from the groundwater table and how much evaporates from plants in the aquifer district, according to the U.S. Geological Survey’s Web site.

Funds collected by the district will be distributed to both groups to cover the costs of implementing the suggestions.

The district expects to initially receive $343,224 from fees paid by district property owners, documents show.