Key Highlights

  • DEQ awards $3.93M to YMCA Camp and St. Maries for water cleanup
  • YMCA Camp to treat cyanobacteria and cyanotoxins from Horsethief Reservoir
  • St. Maries project targets manganese in city water supply
  • Funding comes from EPA’s Emerging Contaminants Program

Two projects have been awarded loans totaling nearly $4 million to help clean up bacteria found in water supplies.

The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality announced the loans in the sum of $3.93 million to the YMCA Camp at Horsethief Reservoir and the City of St. Maries for separate projects.

A loan for $1.57 million was awarded to the YMCA Camp and one for $2.36 million was awarded to St. Maries, both for “drinking water emerging contaminant construction funding.”

The YMCA Camp project is working to address cyanobacteria and cyanotoxins that were found present in the water supply that is pulled from Horsethief Reservoir. Cyanobacteria is a blue-green algae that produces cyanotoxins. Those toxins can cause health issues within humans and animals if they ingest or are exposed to the toxins.

The project in St. Maries will focus on manganese found in the city’s drinking water sources. It will use planning, design and construction efforts to filter out the metallic substance. Though manganese can have certain health benefits, too much can cause manganism, which is a neurological disorder with severe side effects such as tremors, depression, headaches, trouble walking and others.

“The loans from DEQ’s State Revolving Loan Fund are capitalized annually by grants from the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Emerging Contaminants Program, which is funded through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law,” a release from DEQ stated. “The funding offers favorable loan terms that represent a $7.83 million savings to the communities when compared to average costs for municipal general obligation debt issuances.”