Idaho

Basin to compete for improved water
Clean Water Act funds could benefit mine waste reduction
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Karen Dorn Steele
Staff writer

A new commission overseeing a 30-year cleanup of Silver Valley mine wastes will seek Clean Water Act funding for several projects to improve water quality.

Some $21 million in grants to improve watersheds will be awarded in a national competition and there's no guarantee that the Basin Environmental Improvement Project Commission will obtain one, said Luke Russell of the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality.

But the project to scrub mine wastes from the Coeur d'Alene Basin watershed should rank high in the competition, Russell said Wednesday at a commission meeting in Coeur d'Alene.

Funding is contingent on congressional approval of the watershed grants requested by the White House.

If the commission wins a grant, it would be used for a demonstration project to reduce as much as 800 tons per year in mine sediments flowing into Pine Creek near Pinehurst. The creek flows into the south fork of the Coeur d'Alene River.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Superfund budget also will fund other projects to reduce heavy metals at defunct mines in the same tributaries, said Sheila Eckman of the EPA.

The basin commission also decided to pursue up to $1.9 million in Clean Water Act funds for several other projects, including:

•$675,000 to develop and implement a water quality monitoring plan for Lake Coeur d'Alene.

•$440,000 to test various methods to stabilize banks and control erosion along the Coeur d'Alene River and other tributaries flowing into the lake.

•$800,000 to improve Mullan's sewer interceptor system and demonstrate ways to reduce metals-laced sediments entering the system.

Local officials in Mullan support the demonstration project, said Shoshone County Commissioner Sherry Krulitz, basin commission president.

Final approval of the grant applications will come later this year, the commissioners said.