DISTRICT SERVICES

Your District was formed in 1996 to provide potable water and sewer services for the property owners generally around the southern shores of Lake Cascade. The need for these services was underscored by various engineering studies done for the County Commission and done in cooperation with the Idaho Department of Health and the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality. The Idaho entities, along with the support of Federal agencies, provided technical support, oversight and grant funds to initiate preliminary engineering design and related cost estimates. Much of that work has been updated and coordinated to facilitate current planning.

Area Served
The district is divided by topography, geography, past development boundaries and proposed new development needs. As a result, decisions must be made regarding the specific areas to be served and, if not all at once, the priorities and sequence of services.

Services to be Included
Documented lake pollution and groundwater contamination generally dictated that collection and treatment of waste water should take priority in District services. Arguments have been put forward both pro and con regarding the wisdom of constructing a wastewater system alone verses installing both potable water lines and waste water lines at the same time utilizing one contract and one disruption of roads and properties; and perhaps thereby gaining some economy. Cost considerations suggest, however, that only the waste water system should be considered at this time.

Construction Assessments
Any system that is constructed will be expensive. It goes without saying that Federal, State and local grant funds must be sought and applied to the greatest extent possible. Grant funds will not be available to fully offset the entire construction costs. Therein lies a question regarding how much of the shortfall property owners can reasonably be expected to cover. A second question relates to the distribution of assessments in the event that only part of the District is initially served. These issues represent only a few of the issues where recommendations need to be developed and brought to the property owners for discussion. The Board will be discussing these points over the next several months in preparation for a general public meeting to be announced later.