Pinehurst water emergency continues

Last month the Shoshone Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) announced that the City of Pinehurst is in a state of emergency due to the fact that 21 residences and five businesses had been without water for over a month due to frozen pipes in the city’s aging water distribution system.

The first reports of frozen pipes came in on Jan. 15.

Since then some of the affected homes have seen that the pipes have thawed out, but the majority of them remain frozen solid and with the extended winter weather, help still seems like it could be a long ways away.

The Pinehurst Water District (PWD) sought the help of the BOCC and other state and federal agencies by beginning the process of planning and seeking out funding to repair the system.

The declaration of emergency is required for the PWD to be eligible for the grant funding available, so the BOCC has essentially set up an auto-renewal process so that Pinehurst can stay in a perpetual state of emergency while the grant monies are being sought and distributed.

"We have it set up so that every week it renews and we will continue to do so until it is no longer needed," BOCC chairman Mike Fitzgerald said. "I don't know if that will be after the monies have come in or until the projects are being completed but we will do what we need to do to get this resolved."

Nancy Mabile, representing the Panhandle Area Council (PAC) and the Idaho Department of Commerce has begun the process of writing two different grant proposals to get the city the funding it needs.

Mabile’s involvement is a huge bonus for the City of Pinehurst according to Fitzgerald.

“Nancy is one of the best grant writers I have ever worked with,” Fitzgerald said. “She also really knows how to administer them and make sure that they get through all of the government hoops to get the most money to help a situation.”

The two grants that are being looked into are an Emergency Community Water Access Grant (ECWAG) and an imminent threat community block grant.

The ECWAG has the potential of being valued upwards of $500,000, but is contingent on information and with the ground still being frozen, that information is almost impossible for the PWD to get entirely.

“If we start digging now, we are going to break lines that currently aren’t broken due to the heavy frost,” PWD chairman Bruce Rumple said during a previous meeting.

The imminent threat community block grant is in a similar position because it requires evidence that the issue is an ‘act of God’ and not just the current system failing at the end of its lifecycle.

The BOCC would be tasked with administering the block grant and making sure that the funds are properly used.

At this time, Mabile is waiting for information from the engineers working with the City of Pinehurst to get the grant proposals submitted.

For more information contact the Pinehurst Water District at (208) 682-3611.