CRAIGMONT, Idaho – The City of Craigmont, Idaho got a lift from a team of specialists when technicians from the Idaho Rural Water Association came to assist with a rate study and the community’s wastewater system.
                “We went to do a rate study on their water and wastewater,” explained Virgil Leedy, IRWA General Manager and Wastewater Technician.
                Circuit Riders Kevin McLeod and Diane Sauer assisted Craigmont, along with Leedy and Wastewater Technician Tony Elfering. Sauer has a background in accounting, and often provides advice on finance and accounting issues to water systems.
The rate study revealed the city’s rates were much too low.                                           
                “They were definitely too low,” Leedy explained. “We presented a recommendation to their council and I think they’ve implemented them.”
                The rate recommendation would keep the city self-sufficient while allowing them some surplus for emergencies and improvements.
                “That’s what we shoot for,” Leedy explained. “So they’re self-sustaining and have some matching funds when they go for grants or loans.”
                The city was having difficulty with the lagoons that were part of the wastewater systems. The lagoons had zones of inactivity, high suspended solids and problems with the sand filters.
                “They had a lot of problems with their sand filters,” said Elfering. “They had to replace them too often.”
                The IRWA wastewater technicians spent two days at the lagoons. They eventually used two different, seemingly unrelated, approaches.
                “We put some barley into lagoons,” explained Elfering. “That corrected their suspended solids problem.”
                “We introduced some enzymes to into the zones in their number one call,” Leedy added.
                The IRWA will follow up with the city to make sure their assistance was beneficial, and make any other adjustments needed.

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