BOISE, Idaho — Idaho officials want to spend $300 million over the next five years to upgrade drinking water and wastewater treatment systems across the state.
Idaho Department of Environmental Quality Director Jess Byrne told lawmakers on the Legislature’s budget-setting committee on Thursday that the plan is to spend $60 million a year over the next five years.
The money is coming from President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act approved last year. Of that, $350 billion is going into the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds. Idaho is betting $1.1 billion of that money.
Republican Gov. Bard Little’s plan calls for using a big chunk of Idaho’s share of those funds to shore up the state’s water infrastructure.
