Foes of Boise plan to discharge treated wastewater into canal seek to warn Eagle, Star
Two Treasure Valley groups planned to make a case to the Eagle City Council this week that Boise’s plan to release treated wastewater into a nearby canal is dangerous.
Boise’s North West Neighborhood Association and the Eagle-based Citizens Allied for Integrity and Accountability object to Boise’s proposal to start discharging the wastewater into the Farmers Union Canal, which runs through northwest Boise, Eagle and Star.
The effluent would come from Boise’s Lander Street Water Renewal Facility. That move, the Statesman reported last year, would allow the safe reuse of water that will be treated to even higher cleanliness standards than the treatment plant provides now, rather than simply discharging it into the Boise River. The goal is conservation in a desert climate.
On the city’s public works web page about the canal project, the city says routing water through the canal would provide a “drought-resistant source of clean water” for irrigation — not clean enough to drink, but OK to water crops and other plants.
Richard Llewellyn, president of the North West Neighborhood Association, said the city would dump chemicals into the canal, including pharmaceuticals and cleaners. In a phone interview, he told the Statesman that he worries the water could get into people’s private wells and into the soil.
He said he is concerned about contaminants from “forever chemicals,” which do not break down and could build up.
What’s more, people who rely on the canal don’t need the treated wastewater, he said.
“We’ve never, not in my lifetime, had a shortage of water in the canal,” Llewellyn said by phone. “This is a dangerous way to try to save some water.”
Llewellyn told the Statesman last year that people use the canal for sprinklers, to water plants, and to let children and pets play.
Shelley Brock, president of Citizens Allied for Integrity and Accountability and a candidate for state representative, said in a news release that Boise’s plan would violate canal users’ civil and private property rights.
“There are better alternatives, and the city of Boise is going to have a fight on their hands from all three communities if they choose to poison our water instead of seeking those alternatives,” Brock said.
Haley Falconer, environmental division manager for the city, told the Boise City Council last week that the city has “heard and has followed up on concerns we’ve heard from the community.”
Any treated water discharge is likely more than five years away. Colin Hickman, spokesperson for the city’s Public Works Department directed the Statesman to a city website that says at earliest, the water from the treatment plant wouldn’t be routed into the canal until 2026.
Four things must happen first:
- The city must reach out to those interested and discuss water reuse.
- The state Department of Environmental Quality must permit the discharge. That will require state regulators to look at environmental and public health concerns. As part of that, the DEQ would have an open comment period and mandate limits and water quality standards.
- The city must bring the treated water up to the DEQ’s strictest standards for non-drinkable water.
- Experts must complete “a full scientific and technical analysis” on reused water, including looking at concerns about “emerging constituents,” or chemicals whose effects on people are not fully known. This analysis is underway.
Llewellyn said he planned to speak to the Eagle City Council on Tuesday, Aug. 25, because the canal primarily serves Eagle. He said the public will have a chance to be heard by the Boise City Council on Tuesday, Sept. 15. The Boise council may vote on its larger water renewal plan on Tuesday, Oct. 13, but no vote will be taken either way on the canal specifically.
The Eagle council was scheduled to meet at 5:30 p.m., with the meeting streamed live at cityofeagle.org/305/City-Agendas-Videos.
This story was originally published August 24, 2020 at 7:16 PM.
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