ROYAL CITY - It won't be long before businesses in the Hiawatha Industrial Park will be able to take advantage of the Port of Royal Slope's high capacity water system.

The PORS plans to advertise for bids in June or July for its waterline extension project, with construction starting shortly afterward. The line will be installed along the south side of Hiawatha.

"We are hoping to get the waterline extended as far east as we can. We won't know how far it will go until the bids come in," PORS Executive Director Cathy Potter said.

The waterline project is the third and final phase of a project funded by the U.S. Dept. of Commerce's Economic Development Administration, the Grant County SIP (Strategic Infrastructure Program) and the Port.

The first phase of this project was to drill the Port's second well. The second phase was to build a pumping facility and 100,000 gallon reservoir.

"The bid prices came in a lot higher than we expected," Potter said. "When we sent in the application for this project, about five years ago, it was at the time the economy had taken a severe downturn and prices were much lower. Now, with them rising, this has contributed to us to being short on funding to extend the waterline as far as we would have liked."

The project is to extend the Port's waterline along the south side of Hiawatha Industrial Park (HIP). It will cross the railroad in two places, Road E SW and the USBR waste way.

The Port's water system came into existence after a 2009 Department of Health-sponsored consolidation study revealed that the businesses in the HIP operate under "exempt wells," which restricts them to using only 5,000 gallons daily.

No business owned a water right. Some businesses indicated that it was burdensome to report to Department of Health and take the required water tests.

"There were some water quality issues and inadequate fire flow protection stifling business growth and expansion," Potter said. "There are also some vacant lots that could be developed if they had water."

According to Potter, two businesses are waiting to expand by building additional CA Storages. Another vacant land owner indicated he plans to build a CA Storage in the future.

"CA Storages may not offer a lot of jobs right now, but they are the stepping stones for future processing plants or packing facilities which do need more employees," Potter said.

Businesses which have expressed a desire to connect to the extended waterline, Potter said, are Simplot, CPC, Northwest Wholesale, Sunfresh, Jenks Bros., Mike Wade and Lawrence Fruit.

Any business (end user) is allowed to connect. The Port will charge a one-time $2,500 connection fee.

It will require the user to provide a Port-approved meter and back-flow prevention device to keep the system safe for people and food processing.