ROYAL CITY - Grant County commissioners recently decided to make a $160,000 grant and a $100,000 loan to the Port of Royal Slope to help pay for extending water service to the Hiawatha Industrial Park.

The decision went against the recommendation of the Strategic Infrastructure Planning Advisory Committee. It had said the commissioners should make a grant of the entire $260,000 request.

Port of Royal Slope commissioners meet today with the Grant County commissioners to try to convince them to make the entire amount a grant. They will explain the importance of extending the Port's water line to the adjacent Hiawatha, where several businesses have expressed a need for water.

The Hiawatha Industrial Park was established years ago. Businesses were allowed to drill their own "exempt" wells, which allowed them water usage of 5,000 gallons a day.

In 2009, the Department of Health asked the Port to do a consolidation study to see if it was feasible to connect these businesses to one good water system - either the City's or the Port's. Some of the wells had questionable water, the health department said.

The city and the port established a committee and hired an engineer to do the report. The results showed that there are water quality issues, possible water usage over the 5,000 gallons per day and insufficient water to allow fire flow protection.

"So the need was there, but the cost to do the project was too high for anyone to pay for it," Port Executive Director Cathy Potter said.

The Port estimates it will cost $725,149 to connect to the Port's water line in front of Grant County Public Works, go north a little then cross Road E SW and the Bureau of Reclamation waste water drain. The railroad would have to be crossed in two places as well.

The water line would head eastward along the south side of the Hiawatha Industrial Park approximately 7,000 feet.

Potter noted a Hiawatha business, CPC, hopes to expand its current controlled atmosphere storage and building to the tune of $4,000,000.

"But they need to have the water available," she said. "It isn't feasible for them to drill their own well because they will still have the 5,000-gallon-per-day limit."

Potter said another business looks to expand in the next five years and recently purchased additional adjacent land. A third business is interested in building on some of the vacant land.

"The bottom line is the business growth has been stifled in this area due to lack of fire flow and the water limitation," Potter said.

According to Potter, the Port doesn't have the additional reserves to pay for this water line.

The Port has already committed $150,000 to the drilling of its second well and building the pumping facility and water reservoir.

"We are trying to seek funding elsewhere because it is such a good project," Potter said.