KCSD awarded loan for treatment facility project
This aerial map of Kingston shows an approximate location for the future wastewater facility that would serve the 950 customers of the Kingston-Cataldo Sewer District.
Courtesy image
KINGSTON – Last week it was announced that the Kingston-Cataldo Sewer District had been awarded a $1.4 million loan from the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (IDEQ).
The loan is a low-interest wastewater construction loan, scheduled to be used during the second phase of KCSD’s new wastewater treatment facility project.
The new treatment facility is set to begin construction this spring and planned to be completed by summer 2026. The facility will be built in a semi-remote area on a 130-acre property located between Kelly Gulch and French Gulch, which was purchased after the district was awarded $6,170,600 to create the new treatment plant in 2023.
According to a statement from the KCSD Board, the recently awarded loan will supplement the existing funds should they choose to use it.
“The district has signed a loan agreement with IDEQ to supplement the existing grants to fund the entire project,” the KCSD Board’s statement read. “However, no funds have been withdrawn to date, and repayment will only be required on funds that are withdrawn. The district is actively seeking other means of funding to avoid drawing on the loan if possible.”
Having the loan in their back pocket will allow the KCSD some flexibility to begin the project while continuing to seek additional funding opportunities, including additional grant money to keep the cost of the project low for their approximately 1,000 customers.
KCSD Manager Jon Groth met with the Shoshone County Commissioners last year to discuss the district’s plans for the new plant and how it would differ from what they’ve been doing.
“The wastewater collected in Cataldo and Kingston, which currently goes to the South Fork Sewer District for treatment, will be collected and treated right there in Kingston,” Groth explained. “The method is going to be to pump everything up to a piece of property the district acquired. Those flows of wastewater will be collected in a pond year-round, treated to where they’re the equivalent of pond water, and then at certain times of the year we’ll use that water to irrigate that property.”
Groth also explained that the annual cost to operate the new treatment system is anticipated to be less than what the district currently is paying the South Fork Sewer District (SFSD), while also relieving the SFSD’s recently upgraded systems and the amount of water being discharged into the South Fork Coeur d’Alene River by 15 million gallons annually.
According to IDEQ, the low-interest loan comes from its State Revolving Loan Fund, which is capitalized annually by grants from the United States Environmental Protection Agency, carries a simple 1.5% interest rate, and is payable over 30 years. The favorable loan terms represent $940,676 in savings to the community when compared to average costs for municipal general obligation debt issuances.
The KCSD will hold a public meeting in the coming months where they will discuss the status of the project and provide additional information to their customers on the status of the project’s funding.