SANDPOINT — The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality has awarded $40.5 million to Sandpoint for work on its wastewater treatment plant, DEQ announced May 15. 

The vast majority of the funding, $38 million, will come in the form of a low-interest loan, while the rest, around $2.5 million, is grant funding from Legislative Supplemental Funds. In March, the city requested an additional $22 million from DEQ to fully fund the first phase. 

“Don't think of it as in future phases will not come, but think of it more as the sequence of construction,” Public Works Director Ellis said of the phased approach at a City Council meeting in March. “One of the commitments that we made to the public with that bond election was to pursue funding, and this was one of the funding sources that we targeted.”  

While funding for the first phase is progressing, city officials still don’t know exactly how the plant will take shape. Mayor Jeremy Grimm and city staff hosted DEQ’s director, Jess Byrne, in early May in hopes of convincing the department to allow Sandpoint to use an alternative treatment method called “wet weather treatment” at the plant. 

The alternative treatment method would allow the city to build a significantly smaller wastewater plant, which Grimm said would save the city around $10 million. Grimm said at the May 6 council meeting that the meeting with DEQ officials was a positive meeting, but that there won’t be a firm resolution for some time due to a backlog of permits. 

“They did not point out any specific technical reasons or objections to what we would like them to consider in our new permit,” Grimm said May 6. “The process is lengthy. They have over 60 permits ahead of us that they're working on. It's quite a backlog, but it was a great initial discussion.” 

The reason the city is pursuing an alternative method is issues with infiltration and inflow, which is when groundwater or meltwater enters the city’s collection pipes. Grimm said the city has invested around $10 million in limiting the I&I issue, but that a high flow day can still triple the amount of water running through the plant. 

On the high flow days, Grimm said around 10 million gallons of water move through the plant as opposed to the normal 2 to 3 million. Under the alternative method, the smaller plant would treat the diluted high-flow water with just primary filtration and disinfectant.  

“Because (I&I water) is so diluted, we can simply run it through pre-filtration and then disinfection, and it still meets the requirements for what we put in the river,” Grimm told the Bonner County Daily Bee in late April.  

Residents approved a $130 million bond for the wastewater plant in November 2025 by an overwhelming margin. During the bond election, Sandpoint officials made a commitment to pursuing grants and low-interest loans to lessen the impact on utility users, who are responsible for paying back any money taken out.  

Grimm said in April that he doesn’t expect to see any construction on the wastewater plant until 2027.