Post-Disaster Funding for Emergency Repairs Procured for Yellow Pine, Idaho
Boise, Idaho, August 2021 – The Yellow Pine Water Users Association’s (YPWUA) public drinking water system (PWS) encountered severe damage and disruption to service area residents and businesses after the 6.5 magnitude earthquake that took place in March of 2020. Serious damage related to the water system’s transmission and distribution water mains resulted from the earthquake and aftershock sequencing felt for weeks by the community.
The risk of system depressurization led Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (IDEQ) to issue a standing boil order to protect the community. Reduction of leakage losses is a necessary first step toward lifting the boil order and bringing the PWS back into compliance with state and federal water quality standards. To that end, YPWUA hired Mountain Waterworks to provide engineering services to support the emergency effort and work with regulatory staff to achieve compliance.
In addition, through collaboration efforts with Valley County Commissioners and staff, Mountain Waterworks was able to provide critical professional services included funding agency liaison work, government affairs support, and grant writing services to assist in emergency funding procurement.
IDEQ, USDA-Rural Development, and the Idaho Department of Commerce each provided critical post-disaster grant funds towards the replacement effort in the amount of $150,000 for a total budget of $450,000. The post-disaster funding will be used to replace as many damaged transmission water mains as possible and install two pressure reducing valve station to form three pressure zones.
The emergency replacement project schedule includes engineering design and survey work, which began June 2021, public bidding, and issuance of the notice to proceed. Likely, the construction effort will extend into 2022. The actual construction schedule will be dependent upon material and construction contractor availability in the region. It is important to note that the scope and schedule only include the post-disaster replacement effort.
