Idaho to get $20M for water projects

Idaho will receive more than $20.8 million to upgrade water infrastructure in the state through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed in 2021.

The funds will flow through the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds, a long-standing federal-state water investment partnership, according to a press release from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Idaho will receive a $12.2 million allotment from the law’s Clean Water General Supplemental funds, more than $1 million from the law’s Emerging Contaminant funds and more than $7.6 million under the law’s Drinking Water Emerging Contaminant fund. The investments will fund state-run, low-interest loan programs that address key challenges in financing water infrastructure, according to the EPA release.

The funding is part of a five-year, $50 billion investment in water infrastructure through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law – the largest investment in water infrastructure in American history. The law mandates that a majority of the funding Idaho will receive through these funds must be provided to disadvantaged communities in the form of grants or loans that do not have to be repaid.

“Over the last three years, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding has been providing urban and rural areas across Idaho with unprecedented resources to address the most important water and wastewater infrastructure challenges facing their communities,” said EPA Region 10 Administrator Casey Sixkiller in the release. “This latest infusion of federal funding will continue to help advance solutions and reduce the costs to ratepayers.”

The Idaho funding is part of $3.6 billion in new funding announced nationwide Thursday under Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to address water infrastructure upgrades.

“Combined with $2.6 billion announced earlier this month, this $6.2 billion in investments for Fiscal Year 2025 will help communities across the country upgrade water infrastructure that is essential to safely managing wastewater, protecting local freshwater resources, and delivering safe drinking water to homes, schools, and businesses,” the press release said.