Boise plans $200 million sewer investment over next decade

The Boise City Council voted Tuesday night to double environmental engineering firm Brown and Caldwell’s contract amount for the next phase of sewer system planning.

In 2015, Brown and Caldwell’s bid for sewer engineering and planning services won a city contract for $2.25 million. Since then, the company has studied the sewer system’s treatment plants, lines and other infrastructure so that the city has a detailed understanding of the system’s condition and capacity, according to emails received from the city.

The total value of that infrastructure is likely more than $2 billion, according to city emails. Meanwhile, the city is in the middle of rebranding its sewer system. The program’s anticipated future name is “Water Renewal Services.”

Brown and Caldwell’s next job is to help Boise make sure the sewer system has enough capacity to keep up with growth, and that it can meet environmental requirements such as the removal of phosphorous from the treatment plants’ discharge.

After that, the city will work to implement the plans Brown and Caldwell helps work up. The city anticipates those investments will cost more than $200 million over the next decade.

This story was originally published April 12, 2017 at 11:53 AM with the headline "Boise plans $200 million sewer investment over next decade."