I support Boise’s water renewal bond for sustainability and to save ratepayers money
After several years of focus groups, community forums, surveys, and stakeholder meetings to address the city’s water issues, the Boise City Council has approved moving forward with the Water Renewal Utility Plan. This plan will upgrade the city’s wastewater system, first established in the 1940s, to better adapt to a growing population and climate change.
On Nov. 2, all Boise voters, including my family and me, can help decide how the city will pay for critical wastewater infrastructure. I’m voting yes for the water bond. Let me tell you why.
The question is not if we will invest in our wastewater infrastructure improvements, but how we will pay for them. It’s no longer up for debate; the system needs repairing, replacing, and upgrading in order to keep pace with a growing population and falling water levels. I, along with my fellow board members at Conservation Voters for Idaho, strongly encourage Boise residents to vote “yes” for the proposed water renewal bond on the Nov. 2 ballot.
The water bond offers us an opportunity to create a resilient, efficient, and sustainable water system that’s affordable.
Voting yes for the water bond on Nov. 2 means the Water Renewal Utility Plan will receive bond funding up to $570 million, with residents only seeing an average growth of about $4 when the bond takes place in 2022. Without the water bond, we will see our sewer bills jump by over 50%. The water bond will account for new growth, spreading the cost between current and future residents fairly and reducing dollars spent overall.
Water management is a complicated issue fraught with challenges that will continue to grow over time. Boise’s wastewater system was first constructed in the 1940s, before the EPA was created, before the Clean Water Act, and during a time when fewer than 30,000 people lived in Boise. While the wastewater department has worked to keep up with growth and water challenges posed by a changing climate, they’ve had to do that with outdated equipment and systems — basically, with one arm tied behind their back.
Being proactive with our wastewater infrastructure is not just a step in the right direction — it represents a great leap toward a more resilient future for our community. Water is renewable and we can’t afford to lose it after one use. We must give the wastewater department the tools necessary to reclaim water for future utilization.
The Water Renewal Utility Plan incorporates water recycling, aquifer recharging, and significantly improved water retention into our wastewater management. That will save and reutilize hundreds of thousands of gallons of water where it’s needed most.
As we enter the early voting period for the municipal election, I’m hopeful that my fellow Boiseans will join me in supporting the water renewal bond. Vote yes for affordable rate increases and investing in resilient, sustainable, renewable infrastructure that will sustain Boise now and in our future.
Mike Lanza chairs the board of Conservation Voters for Idaho. He lives with his wife and two children in Boise and can frequently be found in Idaho’s mountains.
