LACLEDE — The Laclede Water District has been awarded a $5.32 million loan by the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality for improvements to its water system.

IDEQ issued the loan at 1.5% interest in accordance with LWD’s “Water Facilities Plan” from April 2021. The loan is payable over 30 years and has a principal forgiveness of $721,321, according to a Thursday press release from the department.

The amount of the loan matches the cost given for the “Alternative Package 2” which was selected this spring by the newly created “Local Improvement District'' per Laclede Water District Ordinance No. 1.

AP 2 is the more expensive of the three improvement proposals listed in the 2021 Water Facilities Plan, available on the water district website.

The improvements include “a new duplex intake pump system, including backup power and radio telemetry system; new ultrafiltration membrane water treatment plant; new duplex treated water transfer pumps; new 200,000-gallon reservoir, including radio telemetry system,” according MaryAnna Peavey, IDEQ Bureau Chief of Grants and Loans.

The district will also be putting in “new duplex booster pumps, backup power, and a visual pump failure alarm system installed in the booster station; and approximately 7,400 [line feet] of new 4-inch PVC transmission mains to and from the booster station,” Peavey said in the press release.

Alternative Package 1 comes in at $4.52 million while AP 3 comes in at $3.64 million. However, neither upgrade the intake structure and neither includes new booster pumps for a new reservoir, unlike AP 2.

IDEQ claims that the low-interest loan will save Bonner County nearly $3 million in comparison to the “average costs for municipal general obligation debt issuances.”

The loan was issued by the “State Revolving Loan Fund”, a DEQ fund that is capitalized yearly by the federal government via the Environmental Protection Agency.