The City of Coeur d’Alene is looking for artists to create its newest form of public art on the streets of the city: Storm drain art.

The art will hopefully draw attention to the fact that anything that enters the storm drains feeds either directly into Lake Coeur d’Alene or goes into a swale, where it filters down to the aquifer.

“We do find that a lot of people think stormwater gets treated at the treatment plant,” said city assistant project manager Kim Harrington. “No, it doesn’t. If it goes into a storm drain, it’s dumping out by the boat launch.”

Why doll up a drain? Harrington said the city is always trying to educate people on the importance of keeping things such as oil and other pollutants out of the stormwater system. She said she saw storm drain art in other cities online and thought it would be perfect for Coeur d’Alene.

“This is kind of another way to do it,” Harrington said of the stormwater education. “It’s a fun way to do it.”

She first pitched the idea to the Coeur d’Alene Arts Commission. Commission chairwoman Jennifer Drake said she saw it as fun, creative art that would appeal to all ages and also be educational.

“We thought it was a fantastic idea,” Drake said. “I think that’s going to hit home, especially with kids.”

Where they’ll be. Four locations have been selected for the art project. Those storm drains are located at Sixth and Front, Seventh and Front, Second and Sherman, and near the roundabout at the City Park on West Fort Grounds Drive.

Harrington said she wanted to put the art where it would be seen by the most people. The locations on Front Street are near the Coeur d’Alene Library. “That’s a very high pedestrian area,” she said.

There isn’t any existing storm drain art in the city.

“This will be the first time we try it,” she said. “A lot of cities have had success with it.”

Specs. The call for artists is open to any resident of Kootenai County. There are five themes to work with focusing on clean water, keeping Lake Coeur d’Alene clean and the local ecosystem. Each design must include a message or phrase that references one of the themes. Each artist may submit up to three designs and the artists selected for the project will each receive $500.

The deadline for submissions is 5 p.m. on May 22. Applications are available online at Cdaid.org/arts or can be picked up in person at City Hall. Completed applications can be sent via email to [email protected] or mailed to Amy Ferguson, Coeur d’Alene Arts Commission, 710 E. Mullan Ave., Coeur d’Alene ID 83814.

First in Idaho. Public art of all types has been a key part of the city since the city approved an Art Master Plan in the late 1990s, Drake said. Having a master plan for art is common in larger cities but isn’t very common in cities the size of Coeur d’Alene, she said.

“We were the first city in Idaho,” she said. “After that a lot of cities followed suit.”

A lot of the art in the city is on a large scale, including several life-sized statues, a few granite benches and oversized umbrella flowers at the roundabout at Fourth and Kathleen. There are also artistic bike racks and numerous colorful wraps on utility boxes throughout town.

The commission realizes that art is subjective and not everyone likes the same thing, Drake said. There’s also been an effort to place art throughout the city, not just in the downtown core. “We try to focus really hard on getting as much variety of art in as many places as we can,” she said.

The city puts 1.33 percent of the cost of every above-ground city project into a Percent for the Arts fund that pays for the art. In recent years Ignite CDA has also provided funding for public art in the Lake District and the River District, Drake said.

This could be just the beginning for the sewer drain art project. “If it’s a successful program this year, we definitely plan on adding more next year,” Drake said.