Idaho Board of Environmental Quality
Board Meeting February 11, 2021 9:00AM (MST)
Virtual meeting set for attendance via telephone and video conferencing Board of Environmental Quality
Kermit V. Kiebert, Chairman Mark Bowen, Vice-Chairman Dr. John R. MacMillan, Secretary P.O. Box 970 3067 E Autumn Way 1172 Hankins Rd. N. Ponderay, ID 83852 Meridian, ID 83642 Twin Falls, ID 83301
L. Nicholas Purdy Beth Elroy Carol Mascareñas Kevin C. Boling Box 686, Highway 20 P.O. Box 6, MS 01-602 5000 Baltimore Circle 5881 N. Ferdinand Court Picabo, ID 83348 Boise, ID 83707 Idaho Falls, ID 83401 Coeur d’Alene, ID 83814
Meeting Announcement for February 11, 2021
The Idaho Board of Environmental Quality will convene February 11, 2021, at 9:00 a.m. Mountain Time at the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) State Office Conference Center at 1410 N Hilton St. in Boise, ID. Contingent upon current health & safety protocols, the public may attend in person or remotely via internet or telephone. Remote attendance is encouraged at this time. Information for joining the meeting virtually via Zoom or by telephone is available on the DEQ website: https://www.deq.idaho.gov/events/board-of- environmental-quality-meeting/. To request an accommodation for language or disability, please contact Darika Barnes by February 9, 2021 at (208) 373-0240 or [email protected].
AGENDA
Call to Order and Roll Call
Public Comment Period The board will allow up to 30 minutes for the public to address the board on issues not specifically shown as agenda items. Board Business 1. Omnibus Rulemaking – Fee Rules: Docket No. 58-0000-2100F Action Item - Temporary fee rule adoption Director Jess Byrne will request the board adopt IDAPA 58 fee rule chapters adopted by the Board in 2020 and submitted to the First Regular Session of the 66th Idaho Legislature for review.
Board Business continued on next page 2. Petition for Recategorization of a Portion of an Aquifer at Risk: Case Docket 0111-20-01 Action Item – Board decision on petition The board will hear testimony from the petitioner and members of DEQ staff.
3. Other Business Information Item The board chairman will open the floor to board members for additional topics.
Board of Environmental Quality – Meeting Agenda for February 11, 2021 Page 2 of 2 Idaho Board of Environmental Quality February 11, 2021 Board Meeting
Public Comment Period
The board will allow up to 30 minutes for the public to address the board on issues not specifically shown as agenda items. Idaho Board of Environmental Quality February 11, 2021 Board Meeting
Agenda Item 1: Omnibus Rulemaking – Fee Rules Docket No. 58-0000-2100F Action Item – Adoption of Temporary Fee Rules
Proposed Motion:
I move that the Idaho Board of Environmental Quality adopt, as temporary fee rules, the rules presented in Omnibus Fee Rule Docket No. 58-0000-2100F. This action is for the temporary adoption of IDAPA 58 fee rule chapters presented in Omnibus Fee Rule Docket No. 58-0000-2000F, adopted by this Board in 2020 and submitted to the First Regular Session of the 66th Idaho Legislature for review (2021 session).
The IDAPA 58 fee rule chapters included for adoption are as follows: IDAPA 58.01.01 IDAPA 58.01.11 IDAPA 58.01.05 IDAPA 58.01.12 IDAPA 58.01.06 IDAPA 58.01.13 IDAPA 58.01.07 IDAPA 58.01.14 IDAPA 58.01.08 IDAPA 58.01.18 IDAPA 58.01.09 IDAPA 58.01.25, with the exception of IDAPA 58.01.25.302.20, Water Quality Trading
Pursuant to Section 67-5226, Idaho Code, the Governor has found that temporary adoption of these rules is appropriate to protect the public health, safety, and welfare of the citizens of Idaho and confer a benefit on its citizens.
These rules implement the duly enacted laws of the state of Idaho, provide citizens with the detailed rules and standards for complying with those laws, and assist in the orderly execution and enforcement of those laws.
The expiration of these rules without due consideration and processes would undermine the public health, safety, and welfare of the citizens of Idaho and deprive them of the benefit intended by these rules.
The Governor has also found that the fees being imposed are justified and necessary to avoid immediate danger to the agency’s budget, to the state’s budget, to necessary state functions and services, and to avoid immediate danger of a potential violation of Idaho’s constitutional requirement that it balance its budget.
Therefore, we are adopting these temporary fee rules to be effective upon the adjournment sine die of the 2021 session of the Idaho Legislature. This adoption is conditional and will only become effective if the rules are not otherwise approved or rejected by the Idaho Legislature and/or not extended pursuant to the Idaho Administrative Procedure Act, including Sections 67-5291 and 67-5292, Idaho Code. IDAPA 58 – DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
DOCKET NO. 58-0000-2100F
OMNIBUS RULEMAKING - ADOPTION OF TEMPORARY FEE RULES
Adoption of the temporary fee rules is conditional and will only become effective if the rules are not otherwise approved or rejected by the Idaho Legislature and/or not extended pursuant to the Idaho Administrative Procedure Act.
In the event it is necessary that the temporary fee rules become effective, the Notice of Omnibus Rulemaking – Adoption of Temporary Fee Rules will publish in the Idaho Administrative Bulletin upon the adjournment sine die of the First Regular Session of the 66th Idaho Legislature.
IDAPA 58 – DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
DOCKET NO. 58-0000-2100F
NOTICE OF OMNIBUS RULEMAKING - ADOPTION OF TEMPORARY FEE RULES
EFFECTIVE DATE: The effective date of the temporary rules being adopted through this omnibus rulemaking is upon the adjournment date of the First Regular Session of the 66th Idaho Legislature (sine die).
AUTHORITY: In compliance with Sections 67-5226, Idaho Code, notice is hereby given that the Idaho Board of Environmental Quality (Board) has adopted temporary fee rules. The action is authorized pursuant to the following Idaho Code provisions. Citations to any federal statutes that provide the basis of authority or requirement for the rulemaking are also included. IDAPA 58.01.01 - Sections 39-105, 39-107, 39-114(4), 39-115(3), and 39-116B, Idaho Code; Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. § 7401 et seq. IDAPA 58.01.05 - Chapters 44 and 58, Title 39, Idaho Code; Solid Waste Disposal Act, 42 U.S.C. § 6901 et seq. IDAPA 58.01.06 - Sections 39-105, 39-107, and 39-7408C, Idaho Code; Solid Waste Disposal Act, 42 U.S.C. § 6901 et seq. IDAPA 58.01.07 - Chapters 1 and 88, Title 39, Idaho Code; Solid Waste Disposal Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 6991 – 6991m IDAPA 58.01.08 - Chapter 1, Title 39, Idaho Code; Chapter 21, Title 37, Idaho Code; Safe Drinking Water Act, 42 U.S.C. § 300f et seq. IDAPA 58.01.09 - Sections 39-104A, 39-105, and 39-107, Idaho Code IDAPA 58.01.11 - Sections 39-105, 39-107, 39-120, and 39-126, Idaho Code IDAPA 58.01.12 - Chapters 1 and 36, Title 39, Idaho Code; Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. § 1251 et seq. IDAPA 58.01.13 - Chapter 1, Title 39, Idaho Code IDAPA 58.01.14 - Sections 39-105, 39-107, and 39-119, Idaho Code IDAPA 58.01.18 - Sections 39-105, 39-107, 39-4405, and 39-7210, Idaho Code IDAPA 58.01.25 - Chapter 1, Title 39, Idaho Code; Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. §§ 1342 and 1345
DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY: The following is the required finding and concise statement of its supporting reasons for adopting the temporary rules:
On February 11, 2021, the Board adopted, as temporary fee rules, the IDAPA 58 fee rule chapters presented in Omnibus Fee Rule Docket No. 58-0000-2000F and adopted by the Board in 2020. The pending fee rules adopted under Docket No. 58-0000-2000F were submitted to the First Regular Session of the 66th Idaho Legislature for review and were posted in the 2021 Legislative Rules Review Books for the Senate Resources & Environment Committee and the House Environment, Energy & Technology Committee. The IDAPA 58 fee rule chapters are listed below.
More information regarding this rule docket is available at https://www.deq.idaho.gov/public- information/laws-guidance-and-orders/rulemaking/omnibus-rulemaking-docket-no-58-0000- 2100f/.
IDAPA 58.01.01, Rules for the Control of Air Pollution in Idaho IDAPA 58.01.05, Rules and Standards for Hazardous Waste IDAPA 58.01.06, Solid Waste Management Rules IDAPA 58.01.07, Rules Regulating Underground Storage Tank Systems IDAPA 58.01.08, Idaho Rules for Public Drinking Water Systems IDAPA 58.01.09, Rules Regulating Swine Facilities IDAPA 58.01.11, Ground Water Quality Rule IDAPA 58.01.12, Rules for Administration of Water Pollution Control Loans IDAPA 58.01.13, Rules for Ore Processing by Cyanidation IDAPA 58.01.14, Rules Governing Fees for Environmental Operating Permits, Licenses, and Inspection Services IDAPA 58.01.18, Idaho Land Remediation Rules IDAPA 58.01.25, Rules Regulating the Idaho Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Program, with the exception of IDAPA 58.01.25.302.20, Water Quality Trading
TEMPORARY RULE JUSTIFICATION: Pursuant to Section(s) 67-5226(1) and 67-5226(2), Idaho Code, the Governor has found that temporary adoption of the rules is appropriate for the following reasons:
These temporary rules are necessary to protect the public health, safety, and welfare of the citizens of Idaho and confer a benefit on its citizens. These temporary rules implement the duly enacted laws of the state of Idaho, provide citizens with the detailed rules and standards for complying with those laws, and assist in the orderly execution and enforcement of those laws. The expiration of these rules without due consideration and processes would undermine the public health, safety and welfare of the citizens of Idaho and deprive them of the benefit intended by these rules. DEQ would not be able to fulfill its statutory obligations without these rules. The state of Idaho would lose primacy over federal environmental laws without these rules. These rules are central to DEQ’s mission to protect human health and the quality of Idaho’s air, land, and water.
FEE SUMMARY: Pursuant to Section 67-5226(2), Idaho Code, the Governor has found that the fees being imposed are justified and necessary to avoid immediate danger, and the fees are described below. This rulemaking does not impose a fee beyond what was previously submitted to and reviewed by the Idaho Legislature in prior rules.
The fees authorized in the Idaho Code sections listed below are part of the agency’s 2021 budget that relies upon the existence of these fees to meet the state’s obligations and provide necessary state services. Failing to reauthorize these temporary rules would create immediate danger to the state budget, immediate danger to necessary state functions and services, and immediate danger of a violation of Idaho’s constitutional requirement that it
Page 2
balance its budget. Temporary adoption of these rules is necessary to ensure that (1) the state of Idaho maintain primacy over federal programs; (2) DEQ is able to continue to offer services such as permit and license issuance; and (3) DEQ is able to continue to administer programs such as voluntary remediation, and the wastewater and drinking water loan programs.
Listed below are the DEQ fee rule chapters, fee categories, and the statutory authority for imposition of the fees.
IDAPA 58.01.01, Rules for the Control of Air Pollution in Idaho - crop residue burn fee, Idaho Code § 39-114(4); application fee for industrial or commercial air pollution source permits, Idaho Code § 39-115(3); motor vehicle inspection fee, Idaho Code § 39-116B
IDAPA 58.01.05, Rules and Standards for Hazardous Waste - hazardous waste siting license fee, Idaho Code § 39-5813(3)
IDAPA 58.01.06, Solid Waste Management Rules - commercial solid waste siting license fee, Idaho Code § 39-7408(C)
IDAPA 58.01.07, Rules Regulating Underground Storage Tank Systems – annual UST program fee, Idaho Code §§ 39-119, 39-8802(d)
IDAPA 58.01.08, Idaho Rules for Public Drinking Water Systems – annual drinking water system fee, Idaho Code § 39-119
IDAPA 58.01.09, Rules Regulating Swine Facilities - permit application fee, Idaho Code § 39- 119
IDAPA 58.01.11, Ground Water Quality Rule - point of compliance application fee, Idaho Code § 39-119
IDAPA 58.01.12, Rules for Administration of Water Pollution Control Loans – loan fee to offset costs of administering loan program, Idaho Code §§ 39-119, 39-3627(4)
IDAPA 58.01.13, Rules for Ore Processing by Cyanidation – fee for processing permit applications, Idaho Code § 39-118A(2)(c)
IDAPA 58.01.14, Rules Governing Fees for Environmental Operating Permits, Licenses, and Inspection Services – fees for environmental operating permits, licenses, inspection services and waiver application processing, Idaho Code § 39-119
IDAPA 58.01.18, Idaho Land Remediation Rules – voluntary remediation program application fee, Idaho Code § 39-7210(5)
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IDAPA 58.01.25, Rules Regulating the Idaho Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Program – application fee and/or annual fee, Idaho Code § 39-175C
ASSISTANCE ON TECHNICAL QUESTIONS: For assistance on technical questions concerning the temporary fee rules, contact the undersigned.
DATED this 11th day of February, 2021
Paula J. Wilson, Department of Environmental Quality 1410 N. Hilton/Boise, Idaho 83706 (208)373-0418/Fax No. (208)373-0481 [email protected]
Page 4 Idaho Board of Environmental Quality February 11, 2021 Board Meeting
Agenda Item 2: Petition for Recategorization of a Portion of an Aquifer at Risk - Case Docket Sheet
Documents filed as of January 23, 2021 No. Date Document Originated by 1 11/19/20 1.1 - Petition for Recategorization of a Portion of an Petitioners Aquifer at Risk – Part One 1.2 - Petition – Part Two 1.3 - Footnotes 1.4 - Requested Greenferry Water and Sewer District Information 1.5 - List of 291 Signees 1.6 - CONFIRMATION OF RECEIPT AND FILING ON 11-19-20 2 11/20/20 Notice of Filing and Service of Petition Hearing Coordinator 3 12/4/20 3.1 - 1992 flyer referred to in the Greenferry Appeal Petitioners 3.2 - CONFIRMATION OF RECEIPT AND FILING ON 12-4-20 4 12/4/20 Notice of Service (1992 flyer referred to in the Hearing Coordinator Greenferry Appeal) 5 1/5/21 Greenferry Water and Sewer District Board comment Greenferry on petition 6 1/23/21 Greenferry Water and Sewer District Board comment Greenferry on petition Agenda Item 2 Docket 0111-20-01 No. 1.1 Petition to the Idaho Board of Environmental Quality For Recategorization of a Portion of an Aquifer at Risk Pursuant to IDAPA 58.01.23
November 19, 2020
If ever the Idaho Board of Environmental Quality was needed to defend a community aggrieved by bureaucratic apathy,
IT IS NOW.
If ever Idaho Code Title 39
and the Idaho Ground Water Quality Rule 58.01.11
were essential to public health, IT IS NOW.
Petitioners
Jane Morgan, 11188 W. Riverview Drive, Post Falls, Idaho 83854
David Shults, 5552 W. Highland Drive, Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho 83814
289 additional Greensferry Stakeholders listed in attached documentation
1 Petition Subject
Greensferry Water and Sewer District is south of the Spokane River near Post Falls, Idaho. The District manages two community water wells integral to public drinking water system number 1280077, classified as a regulated community drinking water system in accordance with Idaho Rules for Public Drinking Water Systems. At the end of 2019, the Greensferry Water and Sewer District had 350 service connections serving an estimated 945 people. In 2020, service connections increased to approximately 400, serving an estimated 1000 people (referred to in this petition as Greensferry Stakeholders.) [1] A third well is needed soon to accommodate a rapidly-growing population and increasing water consumption.
This image shows wellheads of the two shallow wells managed by the Greensferry Water and Sewer District. They are sited a few hundred feet south of the Spokane River. These wells are in danger from Bayshore Estates Subdivision, a proposed high-density housing development on 28-acres which would produce approximately 430,000 gallons of untreated wastewater per month. [2] This effluent would be released by 57 septic tanks/drain fields into highly permeable soil directly above the aquifer that feeds these wells. The northeast corner of the proposed Bayshore Estates development lies 185 feet from the Greensferry well site, with a downward slope of subdivision property towards the wells. Recent information available from the State of Idaho shows that these two wells lie directly over the Spokane Valley-Rathdrum Prairie (SVRP) Aquifer. [3]
2 According to well logs, the two shallow Greensferry wells, one with a static water level of 125 feet, the other with a static water level of 150 feet, are drilled into porous sand and gravel typical of SVRP Aquifer regions. Hundreds of Greensferry Stakeholders dependent upon Greensferry water fear that the proposed Bayshore Estates housing development, leaking untreated wastewater into the Greensferry wells, will eventually unleash a significant hazard to public health and trigger an array of legal ramifications. Stakeholders are especially wary of well contamination during the current COVID-19 pandemic since infected people are known to shed the virus in bodily fluids. Recent documentation confirms that the virus is routinely found in municipal wastewater systems. [4]
On August 13, 2020, the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) confirmed that SVRP Aquifer soils composed of sand and pebbles drain very quickly, leaving the aquifer especially vulnerable to septic/drain field pollution. DEQ’s Northern Regional Administrator Dan McCracken explained in an e-mail to Greensferry Stakeholders why the SVRP Aquifer (and therefore Greensferry wells) need special protection from an excessive number of septic tanks:
“The state law that incorporates the septic system rules for Panhandle Health District is in IDAPA Chapter 41. The purpose of the one dwelling per five acres on septic systems over the aquifer is to protect the aquifer from potential contamination from septic effluent. Septic systems rely on microorganisms in the soils to treat water as it infiltrates through soils in a drain field. The soils over the aquifer drain very quickly due to the amount of sand, gravel and cobble which make the aquifer more vulnerable to the density of drain fields. We use sewers and centralized wastewater treatment systems in areas over the aquifer that are developed to a higher density. City of Coeur d'Alene, City of Post Falls, and Hayden Area Regional Sewer Board are some of the larger sewer providers over the aquifer.” [5]
It was 1977 when Panhandle Health District 1 adopted the five-acre rule, which over the years has led to sewage management agreements with surrounding communities and the sewering of many cities in the Idaho Panhandle. The five-acre rule has been applied to all housing developments completed over the SVRP Aquifer since December 1977. [6]
The Greensferry Water and Sewer District offers no sewage management system at this time, nor is there an alternative waste management system available south of the Spokane River within the Greensferry area.
3 Aquifer Category of Greensferry Wells and Adjacent Acreage
1. The Idaho Department of Water Resources (IDWR) has produced copious documentation showing that the Greensferry Water wells south of the Spokane River are completed within the sensitive resource SVRP Aquifer. IDWR is recognized in Idaho Code 39-120 as such: “…The department of water resources has the responsibility to maintain the natural resource geographic information system for the state and is the collector of baseline data for the state’s water resources….” [7] IDWR and its Water Resource Board are in charge of both the Idaho Comprehensive State Water Plan and the Comprehensive Aquifer Management Plan. Over decades, IDWR has gathered geologic, hydrologic and ground water flow information in order to compile technical information on aquifer characterization, thermal modeling, surface to ground water interactions and water usage. IDWR maintains a large network of test wells that assist in the collection of its data. During the last four years, IDWR has worked to update and fine-tune Idaho’s SVRP Aquifer boundary data. By legislative mandate, IDWR has produced proof that Greensferry Water District wells require special protection from septic tank effluent.
2. Fully aware of IDWR’s latest SVRP Aquifer boundary data, the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) Northern Region and its contractor, Panhandle Health District 1, insist that Greensferry wells are completed in a general resource aquifer. According to their playbook, a general resource aquifer underlying shallow wells does not require special protection from high-density septic tank effluent. Neither DEQ nor Panhandle Health District 1 conduct hydrogeological studies. Both agencies must rely upon IDWR and other experts for technical information. Yet, these agencies choose to regulate the Greensferry Water and Sewer District using an outdated, 42-year-old aquifer boundary map completed in 1978 by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), which shows that the southernmost SVRP Aquifer boundary lies rigidly north of the Spokane River. Because of their ferocious attachment to this antiquated and discredited aquifer boundary data, DEQ and Panhandle Health District 1 have approved the preliminary plat for Bayshore Estates with its 57 septic systems adjacent to Greensferry wells completed within the SVRP Aquifer. [8] Read IDWR’s confirmation here
4 State of Idaho DEPARTMENT OF WATER RESOURCES Northern Region • 7600 N Mineral Drive, Suite 100 • Coeur D’ Alene ID 83815 -7763 Phone: (208 ) 762 -2800 • Fax: (208 ) 762 -2819 Website: idwr. idaho. gov • Email: northerninfo@idwr. idaho. gov BRAD LITTLE GARY SPACKMAN Governor Director July 7, 2020
Re: Aquifer Boundary and the Greenferry Water and Sewer Area
Dear Susan Anderson:
Thank you for contacting Idaho Department of Water Resources (IDWR) with your questions regarding the Spokane Valley-Rathdrum Prairie (SVRP) Aquifer and the hydrogeology of the Greenferry area adjacent to the Spokane River. I understand your home receives potable water from the Greenferry Water and Sewer District and that you are interested in learning if the Greenferry wells produce water from the SVRP Aquifer.
In Idaho, the SVRP Aquifer is composed of primarily sands and gravels related to the outburst flood from Glacial Lake Missoula. Wells logs on record for the Greenferry system show their wells are completed in sands and gravels. Well logs and a well location map are attached.
The location of the Greenferry wells are just south of the Spokane River which has been established as the southern extent of the SVRP Aquifer boundary as shown in the attached map. The current aquifer boundary, however, was established in the 1970’s with limited hydrogeological data.
In 2005, the U.S. Geological Survey completed a detailed hydrogeological investigation of the SVRP Aquifer which included an update to the aquifer boundary. The 2005 USGS investigation extended the aquifer boundary to include areas south of the Spokane River, including the Greenferry wells. Additionally, IDWR is in the process of completing an updated investigation of the SVRP Aquifer boundary. This investigation also finds the Greenferry wells to be completed in the SVRP Aquifer. IDWR’s unofficial SVRP Aquifer boundary has not been peer- reviewed. Both the USGS and IDWR aquifer boundary maps are attached.
Please contact me by phone or email with any further questions or needs.
Sincerely,
Daniel Sturgis, P.G. Hydrogeologist IDWR – Northern Region Phone: 208.762.2806 Email: [email protected] 5 Aquifer Perspective for the Greensferry Water Controversy
Pictured above are two children who obtain their drinking water from the Greensferry community water system. They are holding a stream of flagging approximately 125 feet long. The girl on the left represents the ground surface level above the most shallow Greensferry well with a static water level of 125 feet. The boye on th right represents the top of the ground water within that most shallow well. The distance between the children represents the meager depth of sandy, fast draining soil (minimal clay, no granite) between the ground surface and Greensferry well water. How long would it take 430,000 gallons of raw sewage and chemical-toxic waste water per month, every month into perpetuity, to drain through this short barrier of highly transmissive sand-soil into the SVRP Aquifer water table below?
1. The Board of Directors of the Greensferry Water and Sewer District has voiced its concerns about well water pollution. The Board states that the water table under the proposed 57-home subdivision is completed in an alluvial fan at the mouth of Cedar Creek where it joins the Spokane River, providing a significant hydrodynamic head which can drive groundwater and contaminants towards the Greensferry wells. [9]
2. The Board also states that as the District acquires additional water rights to increase pumping capacity of its wells, accelerated pumping could potentially draw septic contaminants into the wells. [10]
3. In its several will-serve letters, the Board has asked the Bayshore Estates developer to provide a lot within the subdivision area for a third well. But this new well would be drilled into SVRP Aquifer water underlying a septic tank farm.
6 Petitioners’ Statement of Grievances
We, the petitioners, are a North Idaho community whose current dire situation is beyond the comprehension of reasonable humans. A summary of our community emergency is this:
1. Perhaps due to political and commercial influences, three Idaho regulatory entities havebeen using EPA’s Spokane Valley-Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer Determination Notice dated January 31, 1978 (published in the Federal Register February 9, 1978) as a dangerous weapon against our community. The three entities are:
Department of Environmntal Quality, Coeur d’ Alene -- Gary Stevens, remediation manager
Panhandle Health District 1-- Erik Ketner, environmental health section manager
Kootenai County Community Development—David Callahan, director
2. For regulatory purposes, these three entities utilize the EPA’s 1978 Determination Notice with its outdated aquifer mapping documentation. To our community detriment, these agencies claim to be irrevocably bound to IDAPA 41, Title 01, Chapter 01.110.03: “Rathdrum Prairie. That area of land situated in Kootenai County and more particularly defined by the USGS map describing the boundaries of the Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer identified and designated under the authority of Section 1424(e) of the Safe Drinking Water Act (PL 93-523) Federal Register, Vol. 43, No. 28, Thursday February 9, 1978.”
3. Shackled to the antiquated and long-discredited mapping data promulgated with the 1978 EPA Determination Notice, officials with DEQ, Panhandle Health District 1 and Kootenai County Community Development continue to ignore and denigrate IDWR’s latest hydrogeological data confirming that Greensferry wells are a sensitive resource completed within the Spokane Valley-Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer, and are therefore worthy of the highest level of protection under Idaho State law.
4. It is certain that when Congress and the federal agencies created the Clean Water Act of 1976 and the EPA Notice of 1978, they never intended that beneficial federal laws should be used to deny the Greensferry community equal protection under Idaho clean water regulations. Nor surely did those agencies intend that the primordial SVRP Aquifer boundary map of 1978 be set in stone for all eternity, never to be challenged by technical hydrogeological updates over decades.
7 5. This travesty is rendered more egregious by the fact that in 1992, both the Department of Environmental Quality, Northern Region, and Panhandle Health District 1 cooperated with the Spokane County Water Management Program to produce a widely-circulated informational flyer showing that the SVRP Aquifer boundary dips south of the Spokane River in many places and that the Greensferry Water District area is included within the SVRP Aquifer boundary. These agencies used EPA funding to produce and circulate the 1992 flyer. [11]
6. An arm of the U.S. Department of the Interior, the USGS has been the primary mapping authority of the federal government since 1879. In 2005, the U.S. Geological Survey completed a detailed hydrogeological investigation of the SVRP Aquifer which included an update to the official boundary. The 2005 USGS investigation extended the boundary to include areas south of the Spokane River, including the Greensferry wells. Additional aquifer boundary geometry work was also completed by the USGS in 2007 and again in 2011. Updated maps are published by the USGS in: Scientific Investigations Report 2007-5041: Hydrogeologic Framework and Groundwater Budget of the Spokane Valley-Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer, Spokane County, Washington and Bonner and Kootenai Counties, Idaho.
7. By 2009, the Idaho Department of Water Resources adopted a well construction rule for the Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer which uses the 2005 USGS Aquifer Boundary showing the Greensferry wells inside of the SVRP boundary. In addition, Idaho’s Comprehensive Aquifer Management Plan, a component of the Comprehensive State Water Plan, also utilizes the updated aquifer boundary developed by the USGS in 2005. Both DEQ and Panhandle Health District were involved last decade in reviewing and approving these two Idaho water initiatives which currently utilize updated USGS aquifer boundary data. [12]
8. In 2009, the Kootenai County Board of Commissioners inadvisably rezoned the 28-acre Bayshore Estates site as restricted residential, allowing two single-family residences per acre. Again in 2018, the Board approved the same rezone designation with an amended time limit. The public record of Kootenai County hearings shows that in 2018, Kootenai County, Panhandle Health District 1 and DEQ officials had access to updated SVRP Aquifer boundary studies completed by the USGS (2005-2011). [13] Yet, the commissioners chose to ignore this updated USGS information and they allowed the Bayshore Estates developer to proceed with his rezone application.
9. In 2019, both DEQ and Panhandle Health District 1 signed off on the Bayshore Estates preliminary plat despite overwhelming public opposition on grounds of potential well water contamination. [14] Both DEQ and Panhandle Health had full access to the 2005-2011 USGS studies and maps showing that the Greensferry well area overlies the SVRP Aquifer because that information was put into the public record by Greensferry Stakeholders during the 2018 zoning discussions.
8 10. With jurisdictional agency approval, Kootenai County Community Development produced its final report of July 2020 which recommended approval of the Bayshore Estates preliminary plat. This report inaccurately states that the plat meets state and local codes. This report acknowledges public opposition to the project on the basis of potential degradation of the Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer, but it states: “no factual or legal basis has been presented to support these comments.” This report declares in various sections that the Greensferry water wells and the 28-acre Bayshore Estates acreage are not over the SVRP Aquifer, but “over an aquifer known as the Spokane River recharge area.” It asserts that high-density Bayshore Estates housing is justified because there are older homes (built before 1977) in the area. This flawed and factually deficient report concludes that planners “cannot find any evidence to recommend the denial” of the Bayshore Estates preliminary plat as is. [15]
11. The Bayshore Estates developer is taking unconscionable advantage of this agency negligence and incompetence. Former Kootenai County planning director Rand Wichman, in his current role as a paid consultant for the Bayshore Estates developer, is quoted in a 2020 newspaper article: “Neither the health district [Panhandle] nor DEQ have expressed any concerns about contamination….We can only do what the agencies tell us is legal and appropriate. It’s [Bayshore Estates] clearly on the nonaquifer side of the line for purposes of regulation.” Wichman is also quoted as admitting that the aquifer line eventually will be changed: “But we are not to the point where we have changed the rules where the 5-acre limitation for septic system applies,” he said. “So, this property is allowed to have one septic system on a half acre like all of the neighbors are.” [16] This assertion is disingenuous opportunism at its worst. As current land-use planner for the cities of Hayden Lake and Athol, Wichman well knows that homes built before December 1977 are not used by Washington and Idaho authorities as an excuse for additional septic pollution to be shunted into the SVRP Aquifer.
Further Important Developments
1. Greensferry Stakeholders are acutely aware that all public drinking water sources located over the SVRP Aquifer are protected by Idaho state law (IDAPA 41.01.01) from contamination of high-density septic tank systems like that proposed for the Bayshore Estates Subdivision. Therefore, they requested an emergency hearing before the Board of Commissioners to discuss the complexity of these urgent public health issues. On July 30, by unanimous vote, the Board delayed approval of the Bayshore Estates application and granted a special public hearing set for September 10, 2020.
2. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and limited public gatherings, 250 stakeholders submitted their signatures in letters and individual petitions to the Board of Commissioners in preparation for the September 10 emergency hearing. Letters and petitions from an additional 41 Stakeholders were gathered after the deadline to submit. These 291 petitioners have requested
9 that, in light of the latest IDWR aquifer boundary updates, the county commissioners require the Bayshore Developer to comply with state law regarding septic tanks over the SVRP Aquifer: that is, to either reduce the number of residential lots to one per five acres or delay the 57-lot development until such time as an approved centralized wastewater treatment system becomes available. [17] This request causes no foreseeable injury to the Bayshore Estates developer other than the inconvenience of having to comply with state law, exactly like all others who complete housing projects astride the SVRP Aquifer.
3. On September 8, 2020, the Greensferry Water and Sewer District Board sent a letter to DEQ requesting that the Bayshore Estates developer conduct a Nutrient-Pathogen (N-P) study to assess the possibility of nutrient (euphemism for raw sewage) migration into the Greensferry wells. [18]
4. Then on September 10, despite the fact that four of five board members had signed individual petitions asking the Board of County Commissioners to make approval of the Bayshore Estates plat contingent upon the 5-acre rule, and despite the Water Board Chairman’s September 2 letter to Kootenai County commissioners acknowledging that IDWR data shows that Greensferry wells are within the SVRP Aquifer, [19] the Board nevertheless issued the Bayshore Estates developer an updated will-serve letter. [20] This letter mentioned the N-P study but made no reference to either the SVRP Aquifer issue nor to the 5-acre rule.
5. Also on September 10, after a September 8 article in the Spokesman Review had strongly focused community attention on the Greensferry water crisis, [21] the county’s emergency hearing was convened as requested by Greensferry Stakeholders. But before attendant Stakeholders had opportunity to address the Board of Commissioners, David Callahan, director of Kootenai County Community Development, advised the commissioners to remand the hearing (delay for further action) in order to afford additional time for the Bayshore Estates developer to conduct an N-P study, as requested by the Greensferry Water District Board.
6. On October 19, by invitation, Daniel Sturgis, hydrogeologist with IDWR, Zoomed into a meeting of the Greensferry Water District Board of Directors. During his presentation, Sturgis assured the Board that Greensferry water wells ABSOLUTELY ARE rooted in the Spokane Valley-Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer. He said that the most recent hydrogeological studies available from his work, as earlier confirmed by updated USGS boundary maps of 2005-2011, show that the SVRP extends beyond the Spokane River into the Greensferry well area as far as 500-1000 feet south of Riverview Drive (territory which includes the 28 acres proposed for the Bayshore Estates Subdivision). Sturgis also assured the Board that the soil and hydrogeological characteristics of the Greensferry well area are the same as in other SVRP areas north of the Spokane River. He made updated mapping and other documentation available to the Board upon request. [22]
10 7. Although N-P studies can be conducted at different levels of evaluation, the Bayshore developer chose to do a basic Level 1 study. This report was completed on October 30 and provided to DEQ for review. The study concluded with an “opinion” followed by numerous disclaimers. [23]
8. On November 10, 2020, Gary Stevens with DEQ sent to both the Greensferry District Water Board and Kootenai County Community Development a letter stating that because the Greensferry wells are in an “area of concern,” an N-P evaluation at Level 1 may not be sufficient for the site. He stated that a Level 2 N-P evaluation would be more appropriate, considering the proposed Bayshore Estates septic density plus the subsurface conditions of “coarse-grained sediment” at the site. He recommended that a Level 2 analysis be completed to reduce the uncertainty of Level 1 modeling. [24]
9. On November 12, 2020, the Greensferry Water District Board issued a letter to Kootenai County Community Development stating that the Board approves DEQ’s recommendation for a Level 2 evaluation and that the Board will issue to the developer new will-serve requirements concerning his necessary contributions to District infrastructure. [25] One board member abstained from voting to issue a new will-serve document. He reminded the others that if the Level 2 N-P study results are acceptable to DEQ and if Kootenai County then approves the Bayshore Estates Subdivision preliminary plat, the Board will have capitulated to 57 septic tanks on 28 acres astride the SVRP Aquifer.
10. Greensferry Stakeholders believe that we are entitled to the five-acre rule for Greensferry water protection. Therefore an N-P “opinion” cannot dampen or extinguish public opposition to 57 Bayshore Estates septic tanks drilled into terrain above the SVRP Aquifer. Furthermore, Panhandle Health District 1 confirmed in October 2020 that under Idaho State law, an N-P evaluation cannot be used by developers to circumvent the 5-acre rule. Here is confirmation from Erik Ketner, manager of the Environmental Health Section at Panhandle Health District 1: “IDAPA 41.01.01 does not include considerations for utilizing an NP analysis to bypass the minimum 5 acre requirement for parcels created after 1977 located within the designated Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer boundary identified in rule. “ [26] Ketner was careful to mention the antiquated boundary identified in the 1978 EPA rule, thereby inferring that the Greensferry community is not entitled to benefit from the exclusion of N-P evaluation for circumvention of the five-acre rule.
11. Despite public uproar, the three regulatory entities now holding hundreds of Greensferry water drinkers hostage to the scientifically incorrect 1978 EPA aquifer boundary map appear determined to enforce their NORTH-OF-THE-RIVER DOGMA to the bitter end. Here is a quote from Panhandle Health official Erik Ketner, who was conversing about the Greensferry situation on September 10, 2020:
11
“There has been substantial interest in this development by surrounding property owners and regular calls to PHD and DEQ. One point of contention is that the area lies over the RPA. This is based on a 2008 USGS study to determine RPA capacity used to establish the feasibility of a power plant located over the RPA, and not necessary related to RPA water quality issues.
I spoke with Gary Stevens, DEQ hydrogeologist on several occasions who asserts that he anticipated this issue while working with the USGS and required a disclaimer of the intended use of the study; he also contends that additional work is necessary to truly identify this area as over the RPA.
Regardless, residents surrounding the proposed development are asserting that PHD is not appropriately protecting the RPA and should apply the 5 acre rule to the development. The consistent response has been that development is clearly outside of the RPA administrative boundary as identified in the definition section of IDAPA 41.01.01, and therefore, PHD cannot apply the rule.” [27]
12 The Studied Conclusion of Greensferry Stakeholders
The issue of safe drinking water is huge, involving every citizen. Idaho Code and many official documents are interwoven with numerous rules, proclamations and resolutions confirming that ground water protection is a top state priority. Yet, upon the horizon, Greensferry Stakeholders see a fleet of 57 tanks set to roll through a 28-acre hayfield right over the Greensferry Water community. These 57 tanks proposed for 28 acres are ten times the number allowed by SVRP regulations enforced by Panhandle Health District 1.
What most frustrates Greensferry Stakeholders is that these many tanks are a clear and present danger to public health, as confirmed by EPA’s Notice of Intent, published in 1978. They are a disastrous hazard as confirmed by Washington state agencies who warn vociferously of proven aquifer degradation from septic systems. And now that news reports from all over the world confirm that COVID-19 pandemic virus can be spread by human sewage, safe water becomes an especially urgent personal priority. Infuriating is the fact that the threat of these invading tanks can be mitigated by a simple but brilliant defense strategy: the five-acre rule.
Caught in this monumental battle for safe water, Greensferry Stakeholders have ostensibly contracted the Cinderella Syndrome. We feel abandoned, cheated, less worthy than all other North Idaho communities afforded water protection by state regulations, so rigorously enforced elsewhere across SVRP Aquifer territory by DEQ and Panhandle Health District 1.
13 The Greensferry/SVRP Aquifer controversy and can-kicking has been ongoing for years. Stakeholders believe that the crucial issues they now confront are due to a combination of confusion, negligence, inertia, dishonesty and greed on the local level. Stakeholders, who depend on Greensferry water, greatly object to appeasement of a for-profit applicant who proposes to endanger the wells by circumventing SVRP water protection laws. They believe that resolution of the Bayshore Estates septic tank issue endangering Greensferry wells cannot be resolved on the local level and that state intervention is absolutely required to save the integrity of the Greensferry domestic water system. Pressing issues will not be fairly resolved until the State of Idaho uses its authority to declare, once and for all, that Greensferry well water astride the SVPR Aquifer is a special resource worthy of protection from excess untreated sewage. This story will not go away until our decent and worthy community is ensured equal protection under Idaho clean water laws.
Stakeholders also believe that if our public health crisis is ignored or improperly handled by state officials, the inevitable pollution of Greensferry wells will make a mockery of the Idaho’s legal code and the State Constitution upon which the law is built. If our appeal to the Idaho Board of Environmental Quality does not ultimately provide the Greensferry community and its public water system with adequate protection against a public-private consortium that seems to lack social conscience, the matter will likely have to be resolved in the courts. But why drag the public and various state agencies through unnecessary travail at great expense? A just and prompt resolution by the State of Idaho would be far less inflammatory to public opinion than a protracted legal battle. The inevitable outcome has to be that what is good for all other communities astride the SVRP Aquifer is equally justified for the hundreds of people who depend on Greensferry wells.
Back in 2018, at the public hearing regarding the amended rezone which currently allows the Bayshore Estates developer to plat two houses per acre, Kelly Hollingsworth, a Greensferry Stakeholder with a legal background, informed Kootenai County commissioners that updated USGS maps clearly show that the Greensferry wells are situated over the SVRP Aquifer. She warned them that approving high density housing in an SVRP Aquifer area presents both statutory and due process problems. [28] Hollingsworth had also earlier advised David Callahan, director of Community Development, that Kootenai County is not bound by the old, incorrect aquifer boundary map because Idaho Code has a stipulation that clearly prevents any section of the Code from being used to cause or permit degradation to public water, air, land or health quality. [29] This excellent rule is found in IDAPA 41, Title 01, Chapter 01.000.01 and it states:
14 “Nothing in this Code shall be deemed to conflict with the enactment of any city or county in the District of any ordinance or rule placing additional restrictions or limitations which contribute to the enhancement of water, air, land or health quality.”
This stipulation means that, regardless of EPA’s antiquated Notice of Intent, local DEQ and Panhandle Health regulators, Kootenai County officials and the Greensferry District Water Board all have full authority to save Greensferry water from dangerous and illegal degradation --if they are willing to do so!
On November 12, 2020, the Kootenai County Community Development published an Amended Staff Report on Remand prepared for the Hearing Examiner scheduled to preside over a November 19 hearing on the Bayshore Estates plat application. The report repeats much of the verbage in the July 13 final report, but it newly advises the Hearing Examiner that the developer now needs time to comply with DEQ’s recommendation for Level 2 N-P evaluation. Also added to this report is a new section with updated comments from the Idaho Department of Water Resources. This section contains confirmation from Daniel Sturgis that Greensferry water wells are definitively completed within the SVRP Aquifer. (30)
Equally important in this amended report is an addendum from Eric Ketner of Panhandle Health District 1. Ketner’s statement is dated July 24, 2020, and it discusses the SVRP Aquifer boundary as defined in the Federal Register, Vol. 43, No. 28, Thursday, February 9, l978. Ketner says: “This administrative boundary as defined in the rule reference does not extend south of the Spokane River to the Bayshore Estates Subdivision, therefore the subdivision is not subject to the 5 acre minimum parcel size requirement. PHD recognizes that current information supports the aquifer extending into this area, but rulemaking and legislative approval would be necessary to amend the current boundary.” [31]
This is precisely why, for community health and safety, Greensferry Stakeholders are compelled to file this appeal with the State of Idaho. We must begin the process now for rulemaking and legislative approval that could free us from the tyranny of a dangerously incorrect “administrative boundary” and thus, SAVE OUR WATER. We turn to the Idaho Board of Environmental Quality as our last resort. We request that the Board recommend to Kootenai County commissioners a delay on approval of the Bayshore Estates Subdivision until the Board can thoroughly review our urgent petition.
15 Agenda Item 2 Docket 0111-20-01 No. 1.2 Our Petition to the Idaho Board of Environmental Quality
Thanks to expertise and dedication of the Idaho Department of Water Resources, the scientific facts about North Idaho’s updated SVRP Aquifer boundary are now clear and available to all.
Idaho Code is concise in its assertion that all agencies are obligated to protect Idaho ground water.
The Idaho Ground Water Quality Rule, with its appeal process, is a far-sighted gift that grants citizens the the flexibility and the right to determine their own safe future and good health.
Therefore:
1. We, Greensferry Stakeholders, ask the Idaho Board of Environmental Quality, as authorized by the Idaho Legislature, to take immediate notice of our grievances. Time is of the essence due to pending approval of a commercial project that gravely threatens drinking water quality of two wells managed by the Greensferry Water and Sewer District, Kootenai County, Idaho.
2. We ask the Board to recognize that the State of Idaho is authorized by the Idaho Comprehensive State Water Plan and the Rathdrum Prairie Comprehensive Aquifer Management Plan and by numerous statutes, including the Environmental Protection and Health Act Title 39 and the Ground Water Quality Rule 58.01.11, to take whatever steps necessary to ensure crucial protection of ground water within Idaho state boundaries.
3. We ask the Board to recognize the authority of the Idaho Department of Water Resources over both the Idaho Comprehensive State Water Plan and the Rathdrum Prairie Comprehensive Aquifer Management Plan (CAMP). And we ask the Board to uphold IDWR’s latest SVRP boundary updates which confirm that the shallow Greensferry Water and Sewer District wells are completed within the SVRP Aquifer.
4. We ask the Board to recognize how preposterous and unreasonable are the assertions by DEQ Northern Region and by Panhandle Health District 1 that they cannot deviate from irrelevant 1978 aquifer boundary lines while the Idaho Department of Water Resources and the Water Resource Board have been using updated USGS boundary data for at least a decade in order to implement numerous water quality initiatives, including the Idaho Comprehensive State Water Plan and the Rathdrum Prairie Comprehensive Aquifer Management Plan (CAMP).
5. We ask the Board to recognize that Greensferry Water and Sewer District wells qualify for the same aquifer water protection as that enjoyed by all other SVRP communities. We ask the Board to bring together for the common welfare all clean water statutes and legislative mandates that empower the Board to grant the Greensferry community the highest levels of water protection under state law.
1 6. Because IDWR’s latest SVRP Aquifer boundary data for the Idaho Panhandle is awaiting the sequences of peer review and publishing, we ask the Board to step in now to preemptively rescue and protect our community and our sole-source drinking water by recategorizing the area encompassing our Greensferry Water and Sewer District wells as part of the Spokane Valley-Rathdrum Prairie sensitive resource Aquifer pursuant to IDAPA 58.01.11, and specifically pursuant to IDAPA 58.01.23, as implemented by various legislative statutes, including Administrative Code Title 39. The Idaho Department of Water Resources is qualified to provide maps and coordinates for the accurate and official recategorization of our area.
7. We ask the Board to recognize the fact that the Idaho Ground Water Quality Rule does not require recategorization of the Greensferry Water District area south of the Spokane River to be approved by the Environmental Protection Agency, nor does the Rule allow that such recategorization should in any way be hindered by the old EPA boundary map of 1978 (which may never be officially updated by federal officials in our lifetimes.)
8. We ask the Board to take notice of IDAPA 41, Title 01, Chapter 01.000.01, which states:
“Nothing in this Code shall be deemed to conflict with the enactment of any city or county in the District of any ordinance or rule placing additional restrictions or limitations which contribute to the enhancement of water, air, land or health quality.”
9. We ask the Board to recognize that this rule clearly takes precedence over the RPA administrative boundary as identified in the definition section of IDAPA 41.01.01, being used by DEQ and Panhandle Health to endanger Greensferry District water. IDAPA 41, Title 01, Chapter 01 specifically grants local entities, including the Kootenai County Board of Commissioners, the right and obligation to adopt adaptive water protection rules within their jurisdictions when the public health is at stake.
10. Idaho Code Title 39-126 states that all state and local agencies shall cooperate with the Department of Water Resources in the collection and dissemination of data needed to prevent and remedy contamination of ground water. Therefore, we ask the Board to insist that the DEQ North, Panhandle Health District 1 and Kootenai County Community Development capitulate to 21st Century hydrogeological advancements and recognize state and federally-funded IDWR data as critically relevant to the protection of Idaho ground water. The Greensferry well water controversy underscores the immediate need for DEQ and Panhandle Health to harmonize their antiquated regulatory dogma with current scientific data. The fact that the Greensferry Water community is compelled to come before the Board to beg for mercy proves that it’s time for these foot-dragging agencies to offer more than lip service to the Idaho Comprehensive State Water Plan and the Rathdrum Prairie Comprehensive Aquifer Management Plan (CAMP).
2 Greensferry Stakeholders believe that we are the first community to ask for recategorization of a sensitive water source under the Idaho Ground Water Quality Rule. Let us also be the first to demonstrate how the recategorization machinery of Idaho can work to safeguard environment and quality of life for a group of vulnerable citizens caught in a discriminatory political vice grip.
Please grant us a speedy decision so that we may follow proscribed procedures to obtain further assistance from our legislative representatives and from Governor Little, also empowered to ensure that that future development in the Greensferry Water District area will be conducted under proper constraints, which Idaho Code requires for adequate public health and safety. Surely our governor, who tells us to wear protective masks and wash our hands, would not be pleased to know that Greensferry Water and Sewer District public water wells are being threatened with ten times the legal limit for untreated septic effluent.
Idaho Code that supports our petition for recategorization
Under Title 39 of Idaho Code, the rules that most specifically pertain to the Greensferry water situation are:
Section 39-105 Powers and Duties of the Director
The Board may adopt rules with the force of the law which may be necessary and feasible for enforcing the provisions for the prevention, control or abatement of environmental pollution. All of the rules adopted by the Board hereunder shall apply to all state institutions. The Board may enforce rules relating to public water supplies and ensure that public drinking water systems have the capability to comply with the national drinking water regulations. The Board may establish liaison with other governmental departments, agencies and boards in order to effectively assist with the planning for the control of or abatement of environmental pollution. The Board can enforce all rules relating to the discharge of effluent into the waters of Idaho. The Board can supervise administrative units whose responsibility is to encourage counties, cities, other governmental units, and industries in the control of and/or abatement of environmental pollution. 39-105.01.02
Section 39-107 Environmental Quality
Any person adversely affected by a final determination of the Board, may secure judicial review by filing a petition for review as prescribed under the provisions of Chapter 52, title 67, Idaho Code. The petition for review shall be served upon the chairman of the board, the director of the department, and upon the attorney general of the state of Idaho. The Board, by the affirmative vote of four (4) of its members, may adopt, amend or repeal the rules, codes, and standards of the department, that are necessary and feasible in order to carry out the purposes and provisions of this act and to enforce the laws of this state. The rules and orders so adopted and established shall have the force and effect of law and may deal with any matters deemed necessary and feasible for protecting the environment of the state.
3 Section Idaho Code, Title 39-126: Duties of States and Local Units of Governments
Cities, counties and other political subdivisions of the state shall incorporate the ground water quality protection plan in their programs and are also authorized and encouraged to implement ground water quality protection polices within their prospective jurisdictions, provided that the implementation is consistent with and not preempted by the laws of the state, the ground water quality protection plan and any rules promulgated thereunder.
Sections of the Ground Water Quality Rule 58.01.11 which support our critical need for immediate aquifer recategorization:
Policies, page 2
01. Ground Water Quality Protection It is the policy of the State of Idaho to maintain and protect the existing high quality of the State’s ground water
02. Existing and Projected Future Uses The policy of the State of Idaho is that existing and projected future beneficial uses of ground water shall be maintained and protected, and degradation that would impair existing and projected future beneficial uses of ground water and inter-connected surface water shall not be allowed.
03. Categorization of Ground Water The policy of the State of Idaho is to provide differential protection for the state’s ground water resources. A ground water categorization system should be established for aquifers and portions of aquifers. The categorization system should be based on vulnerability of ground water, existing and projected future beneficial uses of the ground water, existing quality of ground water and social and economic considerations.
Implementation page 6
02. Aquifer Categorization All aquifers where there are activities with the potential to degrade ground water quality are categorized in Section 300…. b. Categorization should be considered when an activity with the potential to degrade ground water quality is proposed over an aquifer or portion of an aquifer which presently has no such activities and, based on the criteria in Section 350, the aquifer may be most appropriately categorized as Sensitive Resource or Other Resource. c. Recategorization should be considered when information on vulnerability of the ground water, existing and projected future beneficial uses of the ground water, existing quality of the ground water, and social
4 and economic considerations, in conjunction with one or more of the criteria in Section 350, demonstrates that the aquifer or portion of an aquifer may be more appropriate in another category.
03. Ground Water-Surface Water Interconnection The beneficial uses of interconnected surface water shall be recognized when evaluating ground water quality protection. The implementation of water quality programs shall ensure that the quality of ground water that discharges to surface water does not impair the identified beneficial uses of the surface water and that surface water infiltration does not impair beneficial uses of ground water.
04. Interagency Coordination The Department will coordinate with other federal, state, and local agencies to pursue interagency agreements when necessary to ensure implementation of this rule for activities which have the potential to degrade ground water quality.
Also germane to the Greensferry case is Section 301
Note: Because the latest hydrogeological data gathered by the Idaho Department of Water Resources (IDWR) shows that our Greensferry Water District and Sewer wells are completed within the Spokane Valley-Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer, the following provisions under these Sensitive Resource Aquifer rules absolutely apply to our petition for recategorization:
Management of Activities with the Potential to Degrade Aquifers, page 12
01. Criteria for Aquifer Categories. The following criteria shall be considered when a petition to categorize or recategorize aquifers or portions of aquifers is submitted to the Board. a. For Sensitive Resource aquifers:
i. The ground water in an aquifer or portion of an aquifer is of a better quality than the ground water quality standards in Section 200 and maintenance of this quality is needed to protect an identified beneficial use(s); ii. The ground water in an aquifer or portion of an aquifer is considered highly vulnerable; iii. The ground water in an aquifer or portion of an aquifer represents an irreplaceable source for the identified beneficial use(s); v. The ground water within an aquifer or portion of an aquifer is shown to be hydrologically interconnected with surface water and additional protection is needed to maintain the quality of either surface or ground water. Hydrologic interconnections can include either natural or induced ground water recharge or discharge areas;
5 vi. The ground water within an aquifer or portion of an aquifer demonstrates other criteria which justify the need for additional protection;
Note: Because the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality North and Panhandle Health District 1 currently relegate our vulnerable Greensferry well area to the reduced value of a general resource aquifer, the following criteria is also pertains to consideration of our recategorization petition: b. For General Resource aquifers: i. An activity with the potential to degrade ground water quality is initiated over an aquifer or portion of an aquifer which presently has no such activities; ii. The ground water in an aquifer or portion of an aquifer is currently being used for drinking water or another beneficial use which requires similar protection; iii. The ground water in an aquifer or portion of an aquifer has a projected future beneficial use of drinking water or another beneficial use which requires similar protection;
Additional statutes, codes, documents and agency declarations that support our petition for recategorization:
1. Title 39-102: STATE POLICY ON ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION It is hereby recognized by the legislature that the protection of the environment and the promotion of personal health are vital concerns and are therefore of great importance to the future welfare of this state. It is therefore declared to be the policy of the state to provide for the protection of the environment and the promotion of personal health and to thereby protect and promote the health, safety and general welfare of the people of this state.
(2) The goal of the legislature in enacting the ground water quality protection act of 1989 shall be to maintain the existing high quality of the state’s ground water and to satisfy existing and projected future beneficial uses including drinking water, agricultural, industrial and aquacultural water supplies. All ground water shall be protected as a valuable public resource against unreasonable contamination or deterioration. The quality of degraded ground water shall be restored where feasible and appropriate to support identified beneficial uses.
(3) In enacting this law, the legislature intends to prevent contamination of ground water from point and nonpoint sources of contamination to the maximum extent practical.
2. Idaho Department of Environmental Quality website: “Our mission is to protect human health and the quality of Idaho’s air, land and water.”
6 Also: “Hazardous waste is dangerous or potentially harmful to human health and the environment and can harm drinking water, surface water, and ground water. Idaho’s Ground Water Quality Rule (Section 400.01) prohibits causing or allowing the release, spilling, leaking, emission, discharge, escape, leaching, or disposal of a contaminant into the environment in a manner that:
• Causes a ground water quality standard to be exceeded • Injures a beneficial use of ground water or • Is not in accordance with a permit, consent order or applicable best management practice, best available method or best practical method ”
3. Panhandle Health District 1 website: “Water is the most important natural resource on earth. Protecting water used for human consumption, such as for drinking, cooking, and hand washing is of utmost importance to Panhandle Health District. Our highly-trained Environmental Health Specialists inspect and manage critical materials, drinking water, non-domestic wastewater, shallow injection wells and water from the Rathdrum-Prairie Aquifer.” Also: “The Spokane Valley-Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer supplies drinking water to over half a million people in Spokane and Kootenai Counties. The SVRPA was the first aquifer in Idaho and the second in the nation to receive the sole source designation from the EPA. Sole source aquifers receive special protection because they are the sole source of drinking water for an area. The SVRPA is an unconfined aquifer, meaning there are no natural barriers to block the flow of water into the aquifer from the surface. Panhandle Health District has many programs that work to protect the aquifer and the drinking water for the people of North Idaho. Our Environmental Health Specialists work to contain and inventory hazardous chemicals, test soils and ensure proper sewage disposal systems, and evaluate public water systems to help them meet state and federal standards.”
4. Idaho Code, Title 67, Chapter 25, Local Land Use Planning: “When considering amending, repealing or adopting a comprehensive plan, the local governing board shall consider the effect the proposed amendment, repeal or adoption of the comprehensive plan would have on the source, quantity and quality of ground water in the area.”
5. The Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer Comprehensive Management Plan, Objective Number Three: “The Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer… is vulnerable to water contamination and the region must be vigilant in protecting this valuable resource. There are many threats to the quality of the aquifer and a number of agencies and authorities exist to protect and improve the water quality…..The health of the aquifer is of paramount importance to the region.”
6. Spokane County Department of Environmental Services website, October 2020: “Several water quality studies have been conducted over the last 25 years. Results of these studies prove conclusively that there was degradation of the Spokane area's drinking water in unsewered areas. The major source of this pollution came from the daily disposal of several million gallons of wastewater directly into the aquifer from on-site sewage disposal systems, i.e. septic systems, cesspools and treatment plants.”
7 Offical SVRP Aquifer Boundary Maps that Support Our Petition
The SVRP (SVRP) Aquifer boundary officially came into being when the EPA published its Determination Notice (Federal Register, Volume 43, February 9, 1078). The Notice declares that the Spokane Valley- Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer, a principal drinking water source for a large population, requires special care since contamination could create a significant hazard to public health. The Determination Notice advises that the SVRP Aquifer is vulnerable to degradation through its recharge zones because of highly permeable glaciated soils and it cites evidence of aquifer contamination from industrial sources and from septic tanks.
1. The 1978 Determination Notice was published with original SVRP Aquifer boundary maps and other documents showing the recharge zone and the stream flow source zone. The Determination Notice confirmed that these documents were created using background research prepared by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the primary mapping agency of the federal government. Today we know that those first old maps were prepared with limited hydrogeological data, which has been repeatedly updated by the USGS over the last 40+ years. The map below, provided by IDWR, shows the old 1978 map boundary north of the Spokane River, as currently enforced by DEQ and Panhandle Health District 1 in relation to Greensferry District water wells.
8 9 2. Between 1978 and 1992, the SVRP Aquifer boundary map was tweaked by various entities in both Washington State and Idaho. For example, in 1992 both the Department of Environmental Quality, Coeur d’ Alene Region, and Panhandle Health District 1 cooperated with the Spokane County Water Management Program to produce an informational flyer showing that the Greensferry Water District area south of the Spokane River is included inside the SVRP aquifer boundary. These agencies used EPA funding to produce and circulate this 1992 flyer. Note: Since it is not available online, an enlarged copy of this flyer has been mailed to the Board of Environmental Quality for the record.
3. IDWR says: “In 2005, the U.S. Geological Survey completed a detailed hydrogeological investigation of the SVRP Aquifer which included an update to the aquifer boundary. The 2005 USGS investigation extended the aquifer boundary to include areas south of the Spokane River, including the Greensferry wells.“ Additional aquifer boundary geometry work was also completed by the USGS in 2007 and again in 2011. The updated maps are published by the USGS in: Scientific Investigations Report 2007-5041: Hydrogeologic Framework and Groundwater Budget of the Spokane Valley-Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer, Spokane County, Washington and Bonner and Kootenai Counties, Idaho.
4. In 2009, IDWR adopted a well construction rule for the Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer which uses the 2005 USGS Aquifer Boundary showing the Greensferry wells inside of the SVRP boundary. In addition, Idaho’s Comprehensive Aquifer Management Plan, a component of the Comprehensive State Water Plan, also uses the updated aquifer boundary developed by the USGS in 2005. These facts illustrate why DEQ’s ferocious attachment to the old outdated USGS map of 1978 is unnecessary, confusing and dangerous, especially for the Greensferry water community. The map below, provided by IDWR, shows the updated 2005 and 2011 USGS map data in relation to the Greensferry District water wells.
So now we get to reality !
10 11 5. A Document titled: Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer: Comprehensive Aquifer Management Plan, published by the Idaho Water Resource Board in July 2011, contains a map on page 16 showing that the Greensferry well area south of the Spokane River is included within the SVRP Aquifer boundary. The Greensferry area is the little white inner-boundary pucker dipping below the river to the southeast of Post Falls and to the west of Highway 41. This is the same below-river pucker seen in the map above.
12 6. During its most up-to-date aquifer boundary studies begun in 2017, the IDWR has produced the SVRP boundary map below which corroborates the USGS maps of 2005 and 2011 and which definitively shows the Greensferry water wells and surrounding acreage south of the Spokane River as located within the SVRP boundary. This map will be peer-reviewed and published as soon as IDWR completes the last of its northern boundary investigations.
13 14 Agenda Item 2 Docket 0111-20-01 No. 1.3 Footnotes
1. 2019 Annual Drinking Water Quality Report available from the Greensferry Water District, P.O. Box 1105, Hayden, Idaho 83835.
2. Letter of testimony from the Greensferry Water and Sewer District Board to Kootenai County Commissioners, September 2, 2020: “These 57 septic systems will generate approximately 430,000 gallons of sewage per month, disposing of it in the ground possibly only 125-150 feet above the groundwater table.”
3. Letter to Greensferry Stakeholder Sue Anderson on State of Idaho letterhead, dated July 7, 2020, from Daniel Sturgis, hydrogeologist with the Idaho Department of Water Resources, Northern Region: “In 2005, the U.S. Geological Survey completed a detailed hydrogeological investigation of the SVRP Aquifer which included an update to the aquifer boundary. The 2005 USGS investigation extended the aquifer boundary to include areas south of the Spokane River, including the Greensferry wells. Additionally, IDWR is in the process of completing an updated investigation of the SVRP Aquifer boundary. This investigation also finds the Greensferry wells to be completed in the SVRP Aquifer.”
4. “CDA Wastewater Testing for COVID Shows Infected People in Community,” CDA Press, June 10, 2020; “Covid-10 Explosion in Stockholm Wastewater Linked to Nascent Second Wave,” Sputnik News October 06, 2020.
5. Statement in an e-mail to J. Morgan from Dan McCracken, Regional Administrator, Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, Coeur d’ Alene Regional Office, August 13, 2020.
6. Septic Application Guidelines, Panhandle Health District 1.
7. Idaho Code 39-120, Department of Health and Welfare, Primary Administrative Agency: Agency Responsibilities.
8. DEQ and Panhandle Health District 1 approval of the Bayshore Estates preliminary plat including 57 septic systems is documented in the Kootenai County Community Development report titled: Before the Hearing Examiner of Kootenai County, Idaho, In the Matter of the Application of Bayshore Estates, A Request by Jesse Goetz Family LTD Partnership for the Preliminary Approval of a Phased 57-Lot Residential Subdivision On Approximately 28.5 Acres in the Restricted Residential Zone with a Conditional Zoning Development Agreement. This report is signed by Joan Woodard, Hearing Examiner, July 13, 2020.
9. Information submitted in a letter from the Greensferry Water and Sewer District Board of Directors to Matt Plaisted, Engineering Section Manager of Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, September 8, 2020.
10. Ibid.
1 11. This brightly colored flyer is titled The Spokane Valley Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer. It draws the SVPR boundary to include the Greensferry Water District area with a dotted white line and the flyer states: “The view that this map provides clearly shows that most of the people in Spokane and North Idaho live directly over or adjacent to the Aquifer.” The flyer is dated 1992. On the back of the map is confirmation that the flyer was produced by the Spokane County Water Quality Management Program in cooperation with DEQ and Panhandle Health, each with a CDA phone number listed. The flyer notes that funding was provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
12. This information was sent by e-mail to Greensferry Stakeholder Sue Anderson in October 2020 by Daniel Sturgis, hydrogeologist with the Idaho Department of Water Resources. Sturgis also confirmed that the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality was working with the IDWR and the USGS in those days to approve the 2005-20011 mapping updates for use in connection with a number of Idaho State clean water initiatives.
13. See Kootenai County public record (ZON08-005) B009 Exhibit Sheet PDF. At the 2018 Bayshore Estates rezone hearing of August 16, 2018, attorney Kelly Hollingsworth presented Kootenai County commissioners with a legal argument on the aquifer boundary dispute: “The insistence on using the 1978 line has been an ongoing statutory problem in this case. County planners are required by code to consider only the evidence in the record when making their zoning recommendations. A decade ago, we submitted a map showing that the Goetz property was over the aquifer according to the red line. All that was offered in rebuttal was a statement by Mr. Goetz's attorney that the property ‘has never been determined to be over the aquifer.’ Let's think about that: Ten years ago, when the county deviated from zoning that was in place to give Mr. Goetz a four-fold increase in density, we had evidence in the record that the property was over the aquifer, and no evidence that it wasn't. Mr. Goetz didn't even make a gesture at some actual rebuttal evidence. But he got his density increase. That's a statutory problem --not considering only the evidence in the record-- and it's not isolated. This spring, we again submitted the USGS map that placed the Goetz property over the aquifer, and the planners again ignored the evidence to initially recommend an extension of two houses per acre. How do I know they ignored the evidence? Because I called them. I spoke to Vlad Finkel, and I spoke to his boss, David Callahan [Department of Community Development]. And I asked, why are you ignoring this evidence about the aquifer? And what David Callahan told me is, ‘We know better than the public where the aquifer is.’ But clearly, they didn't know. They didn't know about the USGS study that was completed in 2007, and how the USGS redrew the boundary of the aquifer based on only recently available geologic data. We, as bumbling members of the public, had to explain it to them. I sent them the map and explained the study and why it resulted in a more accurate boundary. And upon receiving this, what did the county planners do? They went straight to DEQ and essentially asked, do we have to pay attention to this attorney and her evidence? She wants us to ‘ignore the adopted boundaries and instead make our own determination.’ To this, I would ask, isn't that their job? This is a quasi-judicial proceeding in which the recommenders are required to look only at the evidence in the record in making their recommendations. In such a proceeding, the answer is yes. That's exactly what we want. An independent determination based on the evidence.” Like the other
2 regulatory agencies, the Kootenai County Board of Commissioners ignored testimony from Hollingsworth, ignored all updated aquifer boundary information available and in October 2018, granted to the Jesse Goetz Family Limited Partnership what Greensferry Stakeholders believe was, under Idaho State law for SVRP Aquifer protection, an illegal rezone.
14. DEQ did not disapprove of 57 septic tanks in its standard letter to Community Development, dated August 27, 2019. The letter rambled on with banal formalities, including: “DEQ recommends that projects be served by existing approved wastewater collection systems or a centralized community wastewater system whenever possible.“ Panhandle Health District 1 approved 57 septic tanks for Bayshore Estates in a letter to Community Development dated September 23, 2019. DEQ and Panhandle Health District 1 approval of Bayshore Estates preliminary plat with its 57 septic systems is documented in the Kootenai County Community Development report of July 13, 2020, listed in footnote 15.
15. Before the Hearing Examiner of Kootenai County, Idaho, In the Matter of the Application of Bayshore Estates, A Request by Jesse Goetz Family LTD Partnership for the Preliminary Approval of a Phased 57-Lot Residential Subdivision On Approximately 28.5 Acres in the Restricted Residential Zone with a Conditional Zoning Development Agreement, signed Joan Woodard, Hearing Examiner, July 13, 2020.
16. “Post Falls Neighbors Oppose Subdivision,” Spokesman Review, September 8, 2020.
17. A list of these petitioners are included with this Appeal.
18. Letter from the Greensferry Water and Sewer District Board of Directors to Matt Plaisted, Engineering Section Manager of Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, September 8, 2020.
19. Letter of testimony from the Greensferry Water Board to Kootenai County Commissioners, September 2, 2020. Greensferry Water District Water Board Chairman Steve Tanner states: “On July 7, 2020, one of our members received a letter from a hydrogeologist with the Idaho Department of Water Resources explaining that they had completed an investigation of the Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer, south of the Spokane River and that our wells are completed into this aquifer….IDWR provided a new boundary map of the aquifer showing where our wells are located. This map indicates that the proposed Bayshore development is within the new aquifer boundary….”
20. Amended Preliminary Will-Serve Letter Request for Goetz Property, September 10, 2020, from the Greensferry Water and Sewer District, signed by Greensferry Water District manager John Austin.
21. “Post Falls Neighbors Oppose Subdivision,” Spokesman Review, September 8, 2020.
22. IDWR hydrogeologist Daniel Sturgis gave an oral presentation on updated IDWR boundary data at the Greensferry Water and Sewer District Regular Meeting of the Board of Directors, October 19, 2020. See water board minutes available at www.greenferrywater.com.
3 23. LEVEL 1 NUTRIENT PATHOGEN EVLAUATION Bayshore Estates Subdivision Near NEC of W. Riverview Drive and N. Greensferry Road, Post Falls, Idaho, Inland Earth Sciences, Project LCE-2020- 009, October 30, 2020.
24. DEQ letter from Gary Stevens to David Callahan, Director of Kootenai County Community Development, re: Bayshore Estates Nutrient Pathogen Evaluation, November 10, 2020.
25. Letter from Greensferry Water and Sewer District Board of Directors to Vlad Finkel, Kootenai County Community Development, re: Bayshore Estates, dated November 12, 2020.
26. E-mail to J. Morgan from Panhandle Health District 1 from Erik Ketner, environmental health section manager, October 5, 2020.
27. E-mail from Panhandle Health District 1 showing internal correspondence from File 19-28-142411 by Erik Ketner, environmental health section manager, File 19-28-142411.
28. Transcript of oral comments by Kelly Hollingsworth at public hearing (August 16, 2018): See Kootenai County public record (ZON08-005) B009 Exhibit Sheet PDF, available in public records of Kootenai County Community Development.
29. Kootenai County public record (ZON08-005) S-46, Staff Correspondence with K. Hollingsworth: In a letter of August 10, 2018 to David Callahan, director of the Kootenai County Department of Community Development, attorney Kelly Hollingsworth made these comments about the county’s regulatory use of the outdated and inaccurate aquifer boundary data from 1978: “As for the aquifer, the code section you cited below comes from a listing of rules that govern Panhandle Health District. No one else. It’s worrisome that the county planners feel bound by this portion of the IDAPA, because the IDAPA itself explicitly states otherwise. Please take a look at IDAPA41, Title 01, Chapter 01. 000.01: ‘Nothing in this Code shall be deemed to conflict with the enactment by any city or county in the District of any ordinance or rule placing additional restrictions or limitations which contribute to enhancement of water, air, land, or health quality.’ I find myself wondering why, when the IDAPA explicitly states that Kootenai County can take additional measures to protect water beyond what the health district can do, its planners are actively seeking reasons not to consider evidence about the aquifer that they are statutorily obligated to consider. In my mind, this is the height of gross negligence. It seems that the planners office has been sold a piece of fiction--that you’re obligated to follow inapplicable rules that don’t apply to you. This is a dangerous fiction because it’s causing you to disregard compelling documentary evidence about the aquifer’s boundary, in violation of the statutory obligation to do so.”
30. Before the Hearing Examiner of Kootenai County, Idaho, Amended Staff Report on Remand, Case MSP19-0006, Vlad Finkel, Planner 11, November 12, 2020, page 4.
31. Ibid.
4 Public entities Involved in the Greensferry Water Controversy
1. Kootenai County Board of Commissioners which has authority to grant final approval for the preliminary plat of Bayshore Estates Subdivision in 2021.
2. Greensferry Water and Sewer District Board of Directors which has issued will-serve letters offering to provide water to Bayshore Estates Subdivision should the development be approved by the Kootenai County Board of Commissioners
3. Kootenai County Department of Community Development which issued a July 13, 2020 report stating that the propose Bayshore Estate Subdivision plat is not over the SVRP Aquifer, that the development meets all required codes and requirements and that the preliminary plat should therefore be approved by the Kootenai County Board of Commissioners.
4. Panhandle Health District 1 which currently approves the proposal of Bayshore Estates Subdivision to place 57 septic tanks and drain fields next to Greensferry water wells, despite IDWR data showing these wells are completed within the SVRP Aquifer.
5. Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) whose Coeur d’ Alene regional office currently approves the preliminary plat of Bayshore Estates/57 septic tanks and also continues to insist that Greensferry water wells are completed in a general resource aquifer, despite current IDWR data showing those wells are completed within the SVRP Aquifer.
6. Idaho Department of Water Resources (IDWR) which has accumulated the latest hydrogeological data for the Greensferry community well area and which has provided Kootenai County officials with ample documentation showing that the Greensferry Water and Sewer District wells are completed in the SVRP Aquifer.
5 Agenda Item 2 Docket 0111-20-01 No. 1.4 Requested Greensferry Water and Sewer District Information
1. 2019 Annual Drinking Water Quality Report, Greensferry Water District, P.O. Box 2788 Hayden, ID. 83835, contains basic information on the wells. A document in this report titled 2019 Consumer Confidence Report notes: “The Greensferry Water District is within the Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer Wellhead Protection Area which is protected from certain constituents by the State of Idaho.”
2. Static water level in the well drilled in 1998 is 125 feet, static water level in the well drilled in 2001 is 150 feet.
3. The thickness of the water bearing section is 125 feet for the 1998 well and 90 feet for the 2001 well.
4. The direction and flow of the water reaching Greensferry wells is reported by IDWR to be moving to the north and northwest.
5. IDWR reports that the recharge sources for Greensferry wells include rainfall, the Spokane River, septic fluids from older neighborhoods in the area and Cedar Creek which drains from the hills to the south.
6. IDWR currently reports that the geology of the area is the same as the sandy gravel and pebbles exactly like other SVRP areas north of the Spokane River.
7. Numbers calculated by a Greensferry Water Board member indicate that the amount of wastewater to be discharged from 57 new septic tanks in the well area would total an estimated 41 million gallons annually. This wastewater would become part of the recharge drainage for Greensferry wells.
8. Greensferry well water quality is annually reported by the District as generally compliant with public water safety standards, although many people with service connections report intermittent episodes of a very high level of chlorine taste in the water.
Note: Hydrogeologist Daniel Sturgis with the Idaho Department of Water Resources is an invaluable source of information on technical Greensferry well information. He can be reached at (208) 762-2806.
1 The Welch Comer Engineers Study
The Greensferry Water and Sewer District has contracted with Welch Comer Engineers In Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho, for a Facility Plan that analyzes present and future infrastructure and capacity of the Greensferry water system. A power point presentation presented by Welch Comer to the Greensferry Board of Directors on November 9, 2020, underscored the fragility of this small rural water district, sole source of domestic water for hundreds of people. The presentation demonstrated serious deficiencies in both the District’s infrastructure and capacity in terms of future water demands. Currently underfunded for major system upgrades, the District needs to upsize its wells, increase its pumping and storage capacity, enlarge its transport system and solve its water loss challenges.
The very last thing this water system needs now is for the Greensferry Water District Board of Directors to miscalculate and allow the high-density Bayshore Estates housing project to threaten with contamination the source of Greensferry water —the shallow and vulnerable wells themselves.
Find Greensferry Water and Sewer District well logs below
2 3 4 Agenda Item 2 Docket 0111-20-01 No. 1.5 List of 291 signers (signees) of individual petitions submitted to the Kootenai County Board of Commissioners prior to the September 10, 2020 hearing on Bayshore Estates Case No. MSP19-0006
The following petitioners acknowledge awareness of the latest hydrogeological data collected by the Idaho Department of Water Resources showing that the public drinking water wells managed by the Greensferry Water and Sewer District are completed within the Spokane Valley-Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer.
They ask that these wells be protected under the same state laws enforced by Panhandle Health District 1 for all residential developments over the SVRP Aquifer in Kootenai County: a minimum parcel size of five acres or an approved sewage management system for the entire development.
These signees withhold consent for 57 septic tanks on 28 acres as proposed for the Bayshore Estates Subdivision preliminary plat (MSP19-006).
1. Ashley Eigenman, 8993 W. Michael Way, CDA, Id.
2. Henry Fracz, 652 Kelly Road, CDA, Id.
3. Benny Henson, 536 S. Kelly Rd, CDA, Id.
4. Sharon Henson, 536 S. Kelly Rd, CDA, Id.
5. Lew Allert, 696 S. Kelly Rd, CDA, Id.
6. Deborah Mansfield, 4720 S. Meadow Lane Drive, CDA, Id.
7. Howard Elford, 496 S. Kelly Rd., 496 S. Kelly Rd., CDA, Id. 8. Catherine Elford, 496 S. Kelly Rd., CDA, Id
9. Merrill Louis Otto , 11251 W. Riverview Drive, Post Falls, Id.
10. Gerald Meyer, 1300 S. Greensferry, CDA Id.
11. Laura Meyer, 1300 S. Greensferry, CDA Id.
12. Jeremy Walmsley, 484 S. Tanglewood Rd. Post Falls, Id.
13. Colt Strayer, 571 South Tanglewood Road, Post Falls, Id.
14. Zach Hallen, 833 S. Tanglewood, Post Falls, Id.
15. Rick Luiz, 245 S. Bolder Road, Post Falls, Id.
16. Amber Pinkerton, 12845 W. Riverview Drive, Post Falls, Id.
17. Alan Pinkerton, 12845 W. Riverview Drive, Post Falls, Id.
18. Kaylie Pinkerton, 12845 W. Riverview Drive, Post Falls, Id.
19. Rene Jones, 11309 Riverview Drive, Post Falls, Id.
20. Shannon Teft, 11309 Riverview Drive, Post Falls, Id.
21. Lurene Teft, 11309 Riverview Drive, Post Falls, Id.
22. John Low, 10818 W. Riverview Drive, Post Falls, Id.
23. Christian Archer, 10818 Riverview Drive, Post Falls, Id.
24. Jerry Turner, 1000 S. Tanglewood Drive, Post Falls, Id.
25. Lynn Turner, 1000 S. Tanglewood Drive, Post Falls, Id.
26. Mae J. Martin, 1000 S. Tanglewood Drive, Post Falls, Id.
27. Jol Franks, 10372 W. Riverview Drive, Post Falls, Id.
28. Lorna Morgan, 10372 W. Riverview Drive, Post Falls, Id.
29. Lawrence Marble, 10404 Riverview Drive, CDA, Id. 30. Anna Marble, 10404 Riverview Drive, CDA, Id.
31. Nick Mattioda, 11255 W. Riverview Drive, Post Falls, Id.
32. Eric Sloyka, 892 S. Greensferry Road, CDA, Id.
33. Susan Sloyka, 892 S. Greensferry Road, CDA, Id.
34. Ruth Dixon, 9595 Tanglewood Drive, Post Falls, Id.
35. Allan Knight, 9595 Tanglewood Drive, Post Falls, Id.
36. Chris White, 589 S. Bret Ave., CDA Id.
37. Tammy White, 589 S. Bret Ave., CDA Id.
38. Chris Ferrier, 9128 Driftwood Drive, CDA Id.
39. Melinda Ferrier, 9128 Driftwood Drive, CDA Id.
40. Dallas D. Johnston, 388 South Bret Road, CDA, Id.
41. Linda L. Johnston, 388 South Bret Road, CDA, Id.
42. Brett Damschin, 3195 East Springview Drive, CDA, Id.
43. Rachell Johnson, 3195 East Springview Drive, CDA, Id.
44. Alan Honea, 1627 S. Cayuse Ct. CDA, Id. (Bella Ridge)
45. Linda Honea, 1627 Cayuse Ct. CDA, Id.
46. Rachel Clever, 1178 Marcus Drive, CDA, Id.
47. John Clever, 1178 Marcus Drive, CDA, Id.
48.Lawrence Clever, 1178 Marcus Drive, CDA, Id.
49. Susan Whittier, 8832 W, Highland Drive, CDA, Id.
50. Robert D. Wood, 6967 W. Driftwood, CDA, Id.
51. Sheila D. Wood, 6967 W. Driftwood, CDA, Id. 52. Charles Zwischenberger, 476 S. Kelly Rd., CDA Id
53. Jeff Humphrey, 307 Lower Crystal Bay Road, Post Falls, Id.
54. Lori Humphrey, 307 Lower Crystal Bay Road, Post Falls, Id.
55. Ronald Utz, W. 9027 Patrick Drive, CDA, Id.
56. Scott Samways, 11335 W. Bella Ridge Drive, CDA, Id.
57. Anne E. Samways, 11335 W. Bella Ridge Drive, CDA, Id.
58. Suzanne Kindsen, P.O. Box 361, Post Falls, Id.
59. Kathy R. Anderson, 11189 W. Riverview Drive, Post Falls, Id.
60. Ron Anderson, 11189 W. Riverview Drive, Post Falls, Id.
61. Judith W. Silberberger, 11171 W. Riverview Drive, Post Falls, Id.
62. Troy Roberg, 653. S. Kelly Rd. , CDA, Id.
63. Leah Roberg, 653. S. Kelly Rd., CDA, Id.
64. Jonathan Gamble, 9263 W. Michael Way, CDA, Id.
65. Anissa Gamble, 263 W. Michael Way, CDA, Id.
66. Larry Mach, 10541 Snowshoe Rd, Post Falls, Id.
67. Deanna Mach, 10541 Snowshoe Rd, Post Falls, Id.
68. Robert Sylvester, 10944 W. Crystal Bay Road, Post Falls, Id.
69. Barbara Sylvester, 10944 W. Crystal Bay Road, Post Falls, Id.
70. Valerie Stohl, 10982 W. Riverview Drive, Post Falls, Id.
71. Peter J. Stohl, 10982 W. Riverview Drive, Post Falls, Id.
72. Barbara Grant, 11654 W. Riverview Drive, Post Falls, Id.
73. Mitchell Grant, 11654 W. Riverview Drive, Post Falls, Id. 74. Robert Foster, 2319 S. Greensferry Rd, CDA, Id.
75. Judson Melton, 11361 Riverview Drive, Post Falls, Id.
76. Karen Melton, 11361 Riverview Drive, Post Falls, Id.
77. Paula Halstead, 10694 W. Snowshoe Road, Post Falls, Id.
78. David Halstead, 10694 W. Snowshoe Road, Post Falls, Id.
79. Colleen Sharp, 8803 W. Highland Drive, CDA, Id.
80. Adrienne C. McDowell, 765 S. Kelly Road, CDA, Id.
81. Mark Fellegy, 553 S. Hidden Cave Rd., CDA, Id.
82. Michelle Fellegy, 553 S. Hidden Cave Rd., CDA, Id.
83. Thomas Boteilho, 833 Tanglewood Drive, Post Falls, Id.
84. Karen Boteilho, 833 Tanglewood Drive, Post Falls, Id.
85. Damien Aylsworth, 431 S, Bret Rd, CDA, Id.
86. Melissa Corey, 431 S, Bret Rd, CDA, Id.
87. John K. Hunt 8934 W. Patrick Drive, CDA, Id.
88. Donna Hunt, 8934 W. Patrick Drive, CDA, Id.
89. Carol Rassier, 470 S. Bret Rd, CDA, Id.
90. Martin Rassier, 470 S. Bret Rd, CDA, Id.
91. Patrick Bethke, 9055 Patrick Rd. CDA, Id
92. Linetta Bethke, 9055 Patrick Rd. CDA, Id.
93. Kellie Carter, 495 S. Kelly Rd., CDA, Id.
94. Rosalind Maxwell, 495 S. Kelly Rd., CDA, Id.
95. Paul Steffan, 10417, Calrana Lane, CDA, Id. 96. Nancy Steffan, 10417, Calrana Lane, CDA, Id.
97. Landen Kretz, 10688 W. Riverview Drive, Post Falls, Id.
98. Cassi Kretz, 10688 W. Riverview Drive, Post Falls, Id.
99. Mary Decker, 1008 E. Sharp, Spokane, Washington (owns property with Greensferry water).
100. Anthony S. Ferra, 9209 W. Michael Way, CDA, Id.
101. Jane Morgan, 11188 W. Riverview Drive, Post Falls, Id.
102. G. Michael Reynolds, 525 S. Kelly Rd., CDA, Id.
103. Misty Reynolds, 525 S. Kelly Rd., CDA, Id
104. Adrian Tomlinson, 11614 W. Riverview Drive, Post Falls, Id.
105. Mike Jackson, 10353 W. Riverview Drive, Post Falls, Id.
106. Kerry Jackson, 10353 W. Riverview Drive, Post Falls, Id.
107. Michelle Fernandez, 11663 Riverview Drive, Post Falls, Id.
108. Robert Stiger, 11831 W. Riverview Drive, Post Falls, Id.
109. Susan Stiger, 11831 W. Riverview Drive, Post Falls, Id.
110. James Rocca, 11843 W. Riverview Drive, Post Falls, Id.
111. David Mansfield, 9035 W. Michael Way, CDA, Id.
112. Alice Hamley, 422 S. Bret Rd., CDA, Id.
113. Leonard C. Hamley, 422 S. Bret Rd., CDA, Id.
114. Joan Hedge, 9133 W. Patrick Dr., CDA, Id.
115. Scott Sorenson, 10118 W. Riverview Drive, Post Falls, Id.
116. Cindy Sorenson, 10118 W. Riverview Drive, Post Falls, Id. 117. Blake Sorenson, 10118 W. Riverview Drive, Post Falls, Id.
118. Loni Sorenson, 10118 W. Riverview Drive, Post Falls, Id.
119. Rita McBride, 291 S. Simonson Rd., Post Falls, Id.
120. Jean Pearson, 291 S. Simonson Rd., Post Falls, Id.
121. Lynn Stone, 13506 W. Riverview Drive, Post Falls, Id.
122. Susan Cross, 255 S. Theresa Terrace Dr. Post Falls, Id.
123. Randal Knight, W.13502 Riverview Drive, Post Falls, Id.
124. James Long, 9756 W. Camellia Court, Post Falls, Id.
125. Craig A. Strayer, 571 Tanglewood Dr., Post Falls, Id.
126. Dan Chance, 10455 Snowshoe Road, Post Falls, Id.
127. Richard Kurth, 10743 Snowshoe Road, Post Falls, Id.
128. Judith Kurth, 10743 Snowshoe Road, Post Falls, Id.
129. Bruce Edwards, 10451 W. Bel Air Road, Post Falls, Id.
130. Anne Edwards, 10451 W. Bel Air Road, Post Falls, Id.
131. Sheri Paull, 11523 W. Riverview Drive, Post Falls, Id.
132. Rich Paull, 11523 W. Riverview Drive, Post Falls, Id.
133. Clinton Allert, 557 Brett, CDA, Id.
134. Marge Allert, 557 Brett, CDA, Id.
135. Joe Olenslager, 494 S. Ironwood Lane, Post Falls, Id.
136. Pam Olenslager, 494 S. Ironwood Lane, Post Falls, Id.
137. Gary Ford, 570. S. Bret, CDA, Id.
138. Barbara Ford, 570. S. Bret, CDA, Id. 139. Ernest Laker, 9109 W. Patrick Drive, CDA, Id.
140. Gloria Laker, 9109 W. Patrick Drive, CDA, Id.
141. Patricia Reagin, 745 S. Bret, CDA, Id.
142. Joseph Reagin, 745 S. Bret, CDA, Id.
143. Richard Reinking, 8827 W. Heavenly View, CDA, Id.
144. Roxie Reinking, 8827 W. Heavenly View, CDA, Id.
145. Glen Dugan, 12675 Davidson Ct., Suite 414, P. California (property on Greensferry water)
146. Annette Dugan, 12675 Davidson Ct., Suite 414, P. California
147. John Williams, 9069 W. Michael Way, CDA, Id.
148. Mary Williams, 9069 W. Michael Way, CDA, Id.
149. James Davis, 8919 Michael Way, CDA, Id.
150. Lee Ann Davis, 8919 Michael Way, CDA, Id.
151. Alan L. Sims, P.O. Box 3544, Post Falls, Id.
152. Sherry Sims, P.O. Box 3544, Post Falls, Id.
153. Glen McCullough, 9229 W. Michael Way, CDA, Id.
154. Teresa McCullough, 9229 W. Michael Way, CDA, Id.
155. Sheila McDaniel, 9046 W. Michael Way, CDA, Id.
156. Robert McDaniel, 9046 W. Michael Way, CDA, Id.
157. Ed Reames, 413 S. Bret Rd., CDA, Id.
158. Judy Reams, 413 S. Bret Rd., CDA, Id.
159. Andrew Netzel, 609 S. Kelly Road, CDA, Id. 160. Luke Netzel, 609 S. Kelly Road, CDA, Id.
161. Judy Netzel, 609 S. Kelly Road, CDA, Id.
162. George Brewster, 9110 W. Michael Way, CDA, Id.
163. Diane Brewster, 9110 W. Michael Way, CDA, Id.
164. Janet Ammari, 9222W. Michael Way, CDA, Id.
165. Shelly Gillis, P.O. Box 1117, Post Falls, Id.
166. Alan Cummings, 667 S. Kelly Rd. CDA, Id.
167. Christine Hamilton, 608 S. Kelly Rd., CDA, Id.
168. S. Craig Hamilton, 608 S. Kelly Rd., CDA, Id.
169. Richard LaFountain, 664 S. Bret Ave., CDA, Id.
170. Sharon LaFountain, 664 S. Bret Ave., CDA, Id.
171. Joseph Dion, 700 Bret Ave., CDA, Id.
172. Jannelle Dion, 700 Bret Ave., CDA, Id.
173. Mike Shaw, 1354 So. Greensferry Road, CDA, Id.
174. Sally Shaw, 1354 So. Greensferry Road, CDA, Id.
175. Sean Gilmar, 1322 South Greensferry Rd., CDA, Id.
176. Anne Marie Gilmor, 1322 South Greensferry Rd., CDA, Id.
177. Damon Gilmor, 1322 South Greensferry Rd., CDA
178. Thomas Gilmor, 1322 South Greensferry Rd., CDA, Id.
179. Benjiman F. Schooley, 10750 W. Riverview Drive, CDA, Id.
180. Nancy M. Schooley, 10750 W. Riverview Drive, CDA, Id.
181. David A. Ball, 9819, W. George Lane, Post Falls., Id. 182. Rene Braun, 929 S. Greensferry Rd., Post Falls, Id.
183. Dana Winy, 9674 W. George Lane, Post Falls, Id.
184. Teresa Winy, 9674 W. George Lane, Post Falls, Id.
185. Ren J. Hone, 454 S. Bret Ave., CDA Id.
186. Dauna M. Hone, 454 S. Bret Ave., CDA Id.
187. James M. Patano, 355 S. Hidden Cave Road, CDA, Id.
188. Brock Popek, 10463 Bella Ridge Road CDA, Id.
189. Miriam Popek, 10463 Bella Ridge Road CDA, Id.
190. Catherine Popek, 10463 Bella Ridge Road CDA, Id.
191. Christina Popek, 10463 Bella Ridge Road CDA, Id.
192. Michael Popek, 10463 Bella Ridge Road CDA, Id.
193. Joseph Popek, 10463 Bella Ridge Road CDA, Id.
194. Sonja MacDonald, 12065 W. Riverview Drive, Post Falls, Id.
195. Robert MacDonald, 12065 W. Riverview Drive, Post Falls, Id.
196. Susan Longden, 361 S. Lower Crystal Bay, Post Falls, Id.
197. Peter Bromirski, 361 S. Lower Crystal Bay, Post Falls, Id.
198. Jim Larson, 9723 West George Lane, Post Falls, Id.
199. Daren Upchurch, 9321 W. Driftwood Drive, CDA, Id.
200. Donner Manriquez, 411 S. Rainbow Rd. CDA, Id.
201. Victoria A. Manriquez, 411 S. Rainbow Rd. CDA, Id.
202. Dennis Seagraves, 711 Rainbow Rd., CDA, Id.
203. Donna Gardner, 701 Rainbow Rd., CDA, Id. 204. Kathy N. Walters, 595 S. Rainbow Rd., CDA, Id.
205. Laurent Ranval II, 802 S. Rainbow Rd., CDA, Id.
206. Brenda Wine, 793 Rainbow Rd. CDA, Id.
207. Dorothy Robinson, 763 S. Rainbow Rd., CDA, Id.
208. Antonio Autiochia, 782 S. Rainbow Rd., CDA, Id.
209. Matt Houston, 9336 W. Driftwood Lane, CDA, Id.
210. Lisa Houston, 9336 W. Driftwood Lane, CDA, Id.
211. Berta Mowery, 641 S. Rainbow Rd, CDA, Id.
212. John R. Mowery, 641 S. Rainbow Rd, CDA, Id.
213. David Reasor, 9403 Driftwood Dr., CDA, Id.
214. Dirk Linton, 8825 Driftwood Dr., CDA, Id.
215. Mike Ferry, 585 S. Kelly Rd., CDA, Id.
216. Nadine Ferry, S. Kelly Rd., CDA, Id.
217. Dirk Linton, 8825 Driftwood Dr., CDA, Id.
218. Mary Lee Linton, 8825 Driftwood Dr., CDA Id.
219. S. Randy Whitt, 8457 W. Granite Point Rd., CDA, Id.
220. Cameron Jones, 11102 W. Riverview Drive, Post Falls, Id.
221. Rachele Jones, 11102 W. Riverview Drive, Post Falls, Id., CDA, Id.
222. Norman Brown, 8697 W. Riverview Drive, CDA, Id.
223. Julia Koep, 534 S Brett, CDA, Id.
224. Jay Koep, 534 S Brett, CDA, Id.
225. Randy Tilleman, 4118 S, Chapman Road, Greenacres, Wa. 99016 226. Valarie Lundquis, 15912 57th Place S. E. Snohomish, Wa. 98290
227. Rod Schultz, 2338 S. Greensferry Rd., CDA, Id.
228. Karen Schultz, 2338 S. Greensferry Rd., CDA, Id.
229. Ken Wall, 8820 W. Heavenly View Ct. CDA, Id.
230. Rebecca Wall, 8820 W. Heavenly View Ct. CDA, Id.
231. Paul Dohrman, 8712 W. Driftwood Dr. CDA, Id.
232. Gail Dohrman, 8712 W. Driftwood Dr. CDA, Id.
233. Mike Gould, 8906 W. Michael Way, CDA, Id.
234. Lisa Gould, 8906 W. Michael Way, CDA, Id.
235. Judy Harold, 9030 W. Driftwood Drive, CDA, Id.
236. Will Harold, 9030 W. Driftwood Drive, CDA, Id.
237. Mikal C. Brotnov, 8858 W. Driftwood Dr., CDA, Id.
238. Kathleen C. Brotnov, 8858 W. Driftwood Dr., CDA, Id.
239. Will Armstrong, 8796 W. Driftwood Drive, CDA, Id.
240. Michelle Armstrong, 8796 W. Driftwood Drive, CDA, Id.
241. Deborah K. Ferguson, 448 S. Kelly Rd, CDA, Id.
244. Shawn Buck, 448 S. Kelly Rd, CDA, Id.
Petitions with incomplete address or missing address
245. Patrick Conn, Driftwood Drive, CDA
246. Logan Conn, Driftwood Drive, CDA
247. Andrew Kotscheur
248. Tiffany Kotscheur 249. Craig Thompson
250. Steve Dion
Petitions received after September 10, 2020
251. Laura Malpera, 922 Marcus Drive, CDA, Id.
252. Frank Malpera, 922 Marcus Drive, CDA, Id.
253. Terry V. Patano, 358 S. Rainbow, CDA, Id.
254. Rebecca Hurlen Patano, 358 S. Rainbow, CDA, Id.
255. Barry Ronsheimer, 1663 Culpepper Drive, Petaluma, Ca., 94954
256. Velda Ronsheimer, 1663 Culpepper Drive, Petaluma, Ca., 94954
257. David E. Shults, 5552 W. Highland Drive, CDA, Id.
258. Andrew Ruiz plus four family members, 10274, W. Riverview Dr., CDA, Id.
259. Stanley Berreth, 8903 W. Patrick Dr., CDA, Id.
260. Elizabeth Berreth, 8903 W. Patrick Dr., CDA, Id.
261. John Armour, 9155 W. Driftwood, CDA, Id.
262. Cynthia Armour, 9155 W. Driftwood, CDA, Id.
263. Robin Kimball, 11233 W. Crystal Bay, Post Falls, Id.
264. Roi Kimball, 11233 W. Crystal Bay, Post Falls, Id.
265. Heather Larsen, 1820 S. Greensferry Road, CDA, Id. (3 year old signed too)
266. Gric Larsen, 1820 S. Greensferry Road, CDA, Id.
267. Linda Alison Jenne, 10842 W. Crystal Bay Rd. , Post Falls, Id.
268. Kevin Jenne, 10842 W. Crystal Bay, Post Falls, Id.
269. Kimberly Tomlinson, 11614 W. Riverview Drive, Post Falls, Id. 270. Edward Lynd, 957 Lunalilo Home Rd, Honolulu, Hi, 96825
271. Rhonda Stenersen, 11590, Riverview Drive, Post Falls, Id.
272. Steve Stenersen, 11590, Riverview Drive, Post Falls, Id.
273. Roger Shively, 10061 Bella Ridge Drive, CDA, Id.
274. Naomi K. Shively, 10061 Bella Ridge Drive, CDA, Id.
275. Bill O’Connell, 11019 W. Crystal Bay Road, Post Falls, Id.
276. Colleen O’Connell, 11019 W. Crystal Bay Road, Post Falls, Id.
277. Gretchen Gardner, 8981 W. Patrick Drive, CDA, Id.
278. Rick Grover, 9491 W. Driftwood, CDA, Id.
279. Julia Gover, 9491 W. Driftwood, CDA, Id.
280. Dan Henry, 1747 S. Greensferry Rd., CDA, Id.
281. Elaine Henry, 1747 S. Greensferry Rd., CDA, Id.
282. Jim Barton, 11013 W. Riverview Dr., Post Falls, Id.
283. Sue Barton, 11013 W. Riverview Dr., Post Falls, Id.
284. Tom Drury, 11143 W. Crystal Bay Rd, Post Falls, Id.
285. Donna Drury, 11143 W. Crystal Bay Rd, Post Falls, Id.
286. Chris White, 589 S. Bret Avenue, CDA, Idaho, Id.
287. Tammy White, 589 S. Bret Avenue, CDA, Idaho, Id.
288. Rex Grace, 749 S. Rainbow Rd. CDA, Idaho, Id.
289. Bren Grace, 749 S. Rainbow Rd. CDA, Idaho, Id.
290. Kimberly Morris, 11351 Crystal Bay Road, Post Falls, Id.
291. Richard Morris, 11351 Crystal Bay Road, Post Falls, Id. Agenda Item 2 Docket 0111-20-01 No. 1.6 From: Paula Wilson To: [email protected] Subject: FW: The Greensferry Appeal - 1 - CONFIRMATION OF RECEIPT AND FILING ON 11-19-20 Date: Thursday, November 19, 2020 1:22:53 PM Attachments: Green Appeal Part One.pdf Green Appeal Part Two.pdf Footnotes.pdf Requested Greensferry Water and Sewer District Information.pdf List of 291 Signees.pdf
This is confirmation that the attached documents were received by the Hearing Coordinator and filed on November 19, 2020.
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, November 19, 2020 12:59 PM To: Paula Wilson Subject: The Greensferry Appeal Agenda Item 2 Docket 0111-20-01 No. 2.0 BEFORE THE BOARD OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY STATE OF IDAHO
PETITION FOR RECATEGORIZATION OF A ) PORTION OF AN AQUIFER AT RISK ) Case Docket No. 0111-20-01 ) JANE MORGAN and DAVID SHULTS, ) NOTICE OF FILING AND SERVICE Petitioners, ) OF PETITION )
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that:
1. Petitioners Jane Morgan and David Shults filed a Petition for Recategorization of a Portionof an Aquifer at Risk with the Idaho Board of Environmental Quality on November 19, 2020.
2. A true and correct copy of the Petition is hereby served on the Department of Environmental Quality and copied to the Panhandle Health District.
On Behalf of the Department of Environmental Quality:
Lisa O'Hara Deputy Attorney General Department of Environmental Quality 1410 N Hilton Boise, ID 83706-1255 lisa.o'[email protected] via electronic service on November 20, 2020
On Behalf of Panhandle Health District:
Lora Whalen, Director Panhandle Health District 8500 N Atlas Rd Hayden, ID 83835 [email protected] via electronic service· on November 20, 2020
Dated this 201h day of November, 2020
Paula J. ils' n Hearing Co rdinator Department of Environmental Quality 1410 N Hilton, Boise ID 83706 (208)373-0418/Fax No. (208)373-0481 [email protected]. . gov
NOTICE OF FILING AND SERVICE OF PETITION - 1
Agenda Item 2 Docket 0111-20-01 No. 3.1
This is the 1992 flyer referred to in the Greensferry Appeal, Part One and Part Two and also in footnote 11.
Please add this flyer to the file as an evidentiary document which supports our appeal.
Thank you.
Jane Morgan [email protected]
Agenda Item 2 Docket 0111-20-01 No. 3.2 From: Paula Wilson To: [email protected]; "[email protected]" Cc: Paula Wilson Subject: Petition for Recategorization of an Aquifer at Risk, Docket No. 0111-20-01 - CONFIRMATION OF RECEIPT AND FILING ON 12-4-20 Date: Friday, December 4, 2020 12:50:19 PM Attachments: 1992 flyer referred to in the Greensferry Appeal.pdf
This is confirmation that the attached documents were received by the Hearing Coordinator and filed on December 4, 2020. Agenda Item 2 Docket 0111-20-01 No. 4.0 BEFORE THE BOARD OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY STATE OF IDAHO
PETITION FOR RECATEGORIZATION OF A ) PORTION OF AN AQUIFER AT RISK ) Case Docket No. 0111-20-01 ) JANE MORGAN and DAVID SHULTS, ) NOTICE OF SERVICE Petitioners, ) )
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that:
1. On December 4, 2020, Petitioners filed the 1992 flyer referred to in the Greensferry Appeal.
2. A copy of the 1992 flyer is hereby servedon the Departmentof Environmental Quality and copied to the Panhandle Health District.
On Behalf of the Department of Environmental Quality:
Lisa O'Hara Deputy Attorney General Department of Environmental Quality 1410 N Hilton Boise, ID 83706-1255 lisa.o'[email protected] via electronic service on November 20, 2020
On Behalf of Panhandle Health District:
Lora Whalen, Director Panhandle Health District 8500 N Atlas Rd Hayden, ID 83835 [email protected] via electronic service on November 20, 2020
Dated this 4th day of December, 2020
Paula J. WAison Hearing �ordinator Department of Environmental Quality 1410 N Hilton, Boise ID 83706 (208)373-0418/F ax No. (208)373-0481 paula. [email protected]
NOTICE OF SERVICE - 1
Agenda Item 2 Docket 0111-20-01 No. 5.0
Greenferry Water and Sewer District 9191 W. Michael Way, Coeur d’Alene, ID 83814 P.O. Box 2788 Hayden, Idaho 83835 Office - 208-773-5510 [email protected]
January 5, 2020
To: Idaho Department of Environmental Quality Board of Directors
RE: Petition to the Idaho Board of Environmental Quality for Recategorization of a Portion of an Aquifer at Risk Pursuant to IDAPA 58.01.23
Dear Board of Directors:
The Greenferry Water and Sewer District Board wants to go on the record as supporting the petition to the Idaho Board of Environmental Quality for recategorization of a Portion of an Aquifer at Risk Pursuant to IDAPA 58.01.23. This petition was submitted by Jane Morgan and David Shults and accompanied by signatures from 289 residents within or near the District, also supporting the petition.
The Water District serves approximately 400 customers on the south side of the Spokane River near Post Falls. The water supply is from two groundwater wells. The depth of the groundwater aquifer serving the District’s wells is only 125-150 feet. The wells are drilled into porous sands and gravels making them highly vulnerable to contamination. Copies of the well driller’s reports were included with the petition.
The quality of the District’s well water is exceptional but threatened by septic tank effluent. Septic tanks and drain fields are the only method of sewage disposal in the District and the installation of a central sewage treatment and disposal system is not on the horizon for the District for many decades.
In early July one of the members of the District received a letter dated July 7, 2020 from a hydrogeologist with the Idaho Department of Water Resources (IDWR, included with petition) explaining that they had completed an investigation of the Spokane Valley- Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer (SVRPA), including the area south of the Spokane River where the District’s wells are located. IDWR determined that the District's wells are drilled into what is considered the SVRPA. The IDWR boundary also seems to coincide with the boundary of the Aquifer determined by the U.S Geological Survey studies in 2005 and 2007.
These studies also show the Aquifer extending to the south side of the Spokane River where the District’s wells are located. These boundaries can be seen on the attached map that are downloaded from the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality Website. It is the Board’s understanding the Idaho Groundwater Quality Rule defines the boundary of the SVRPA, as established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and is incorporated in IDAPA 41.01.01.110.03.c: "Rathdrum Prairie. That area of land situated in Kootenai County and more particularly defined by the USGS map describing the boundaries of the Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer identified and designated under the authority of Section l424(e) of the Safe Drinking Water Act (PL 93-523) (Federal Register, Vol. 43, No. 28 -Thursday, February 9, l978)". This is the reference in the Panhandle Health District Sewage Disposal Rules for the Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer, which are referenced in the Idaho Water Quality Standards.
This Aquifer boundary established in 1978 and used by the Idaho DEQ does not extend to the south side of the Spokane River, including the area of the District’s wells. As a result the groundwater is not protected under the Idaho Groundwater Rule, as a "Sensitive Resource Aquifer".
The District’s Board is very concerned about protecting the groundwater and its wells from further degradation as a result of development in the District. The Board would like to see the Groundwater Quality Rule changed in a way that would recharacterize the Spokane Valley-Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer to include the area within the District identified by these more recent groundwater studies by IDWR and USGS. The District would like to see the groundwater serving the District’s wells afforded the same level of protection in the Idaho Groundwater Rule as other public drinking water supplies located only a few hundred yards to the north of the District’s wells. The Board believes there is ample scientific data to show that a recharacterization of the Aquifer is justified and appropriate. Thank you for your consideration of these issues important to the Board.
Sincerely,
Steve Tanner – Chairman
Carol Rassier – Vice Chairman
Ron Utz - Director
Robert Stiger – Director
Rex Grace – Director
Cc: John Austin - District Manager Bob Kuchenski – Water Operator Roger Glessner - District Engineer
Agenda Item 2 Docket 0111-20-01 No. 6.0 From: John Austin To: Paula Wilson; Jerri Henry; Ron Utz; Carol Raisser; Rex Grace; Robert Stiger; Stephanie Sherman Subject: Fwd: Greenferry Water and sewer District comments to IDEQ Board on Petition Date: Saturday, January 23, 2021 4:30:36 PM
Good afternoon:
The Greensferry Water and Sewer District Board previously sent you their comments on the petition to the IDEQ Board to recategorize the Spokane Valley Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer in the Idaho Ground Water Rule, to include the area south of the Spokane River, including the Districts wells. The Greenferry Board would also like you to provide the Board of IDEQ the additional information to support this petition.
Below are links to IDEQ Source Water Assessment and Modeling Reports for the Greenferry wells. These links were taken from the IDEQ website were completed by the IDEQ staff in 2001, 2008 and 2009 and all indicate the Spokane Valley-Rathdurm Prairie Aquifer provide the water to the Districts wells on the south side of the Spokane River. Since the IDEQ staff has already recognized the aquifer extends on the South side of the Spokane River for at least the last 20 years, perhaps the decision has already been made by the Department to recategorize the Aquifer. Thank you for providing this information to the Board in preparation for the February 11, 2021 board meeting. https://www2.deq.idaho.gov/water/SwaOnlineFiles/636161154958580809_1280077_Green%20Ferry_Well_1_2_%20Modeling%20Report.pdf https://www2.deq.idaho.gov/water/SwaOnlineFiles/636161130454433782_ID1280077%20Well%201%202001%20SWA%20Report.pdf https://www2.deq.idaho.gov/water/SwaOnlineFiles/636161154958580809_1280077_Green%20Ferry_Well_1_2_%20Modeling%20Report.pdfSouthSouthSouthSouth
John Austin Manager For the Greenferry Water and Sewer District Board Stephen Tanner, Chairman
Idaho Board of Environmental Quality February 11, 2021 Board Meeting
Agenda Item 3: Other Business