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The Rathdrum Prairie Integrated Water Resource Management plan is a living document to be revisited, reviewed and updated as new information becomes available and as community water resource needs and objectives change. Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) planning is most often conducted to balance future demands on water supply among various user groups reliant on the same water source(s). On the Rathdrum Prairie (RP), an additional significant constraint presents itself: water quality. As described in detail in Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer Future Municipal Water Demand, future RP demand is driven by growth in municipal use and consequent decrease in agricultural irrigation as cropped land is converted to residential and commercial use. A potential constraint on municipal growth and demand is the vulnerability of the Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer (RPA) and the Spokane River to pollutant loading. An additional constraint on RPA use is political in nature: effects of RPA withdrawals on aquifer discharge to the Spokane River down-gradient in Washington State. This IWRM plan will analyze the interactions between RP municipal growth and the physical, regulatory and sociopolitical constraints on RPA municipal water demand. The RPIWRM is based on three reports created for the IWRM planning process: the Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer Future Municipal Water Demand, an update to the Rathdrum Prairie Wastewater Master Plan (Appendix A), and a municipal wastewater industrial reuse report (Appendix B). Additional analysis includes river management, municipal stormwater discharge and infiltration, and on-site residential wastewater disposal. The IWRM is informed and set in the context of local land use planning and water quality regulation. Integrated water resource management analysis indicates: * RPA water supply is sufficient to meet projected demand * Existing municipal wastewater treatment plants have or are building sufficient capacity to handle predicted growth within the Area of City Impacts for Coeur d'Alene, Post Falls, Rathdrum and Hayden for current regulated pollutants * Addition of PCBs or other constituents of emerging concern (CEC) to pollutants regulated by Spokane River Municipal Wastewater Treatment (MWWT) NPDES permits may drive institution of seasonal land application as the final disposal option for MWW effluent * Population expansion and attendant increase in water demand predicted for the Greenferry Water and Sewer District south of Post Falls is unlikely to occur without appropriate wastewater treatment options * Population expansion predicted for North Kootenai Water and Sewer District north of Hayden may be delayed by difficulty in changing land use zoning to support higher density development * Industrial reuse of treated MWW is feasible but unlikely unless the regulatory environment or water supply availability changes * Legislative clarification of 42-201(8) is necessary to clearly identify that industrial reuse of MWW effluent is automatically permitted as a water right * The volume of stormwater discharge to surface water will decrease * Infiltration of stormwater runoff is not significantly decreasing RPA water quality * Critical low flows in the Spokane River at the Spokane gage will be only marginally affected by water use and discharge flows on/from the Rathdrum Prairie * Effective IWRM for the RPA necessitates extension of IWRM to include the interests of Washington State, the Spokane Tribe, the Coeur d'Alene Tribe, and Avista Corporation

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Title:
Rathdrum Prairie integrated water resource management
Authors:
Solomon, Mark
Date Created (ISO Standard):
2016-04-27
Description:
The Rathdrum Prairie Integrated Water Resource Management plan is a living document to be revisited, reviewed and updated as new information becomes available and as community water resource needs and objectives change. Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) planning is most often conducted to balance future demands on water supply among various user groups reliant on the same water source(s). On the Rathdrum Prairie (RP), an additional significant constraint presents itself: water quality. As described in detail in Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer Future Municipal Water Demand, future RP demand is driven by growth in municipal use and consequent decrease in agricultural irrigation as cropped land is converted to residential and commercial use. A potential constraint on municipal growth and demand is the vulnerability of the Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer (RPA) and the Spokane River to pollutant loading. An additional constraint on RPA use is political in nature: effects of RPA withdrawals on aquifer discharge to the Spokane River down-gradient in Washington State. This IWRM plan will analyze the interactions between RP municipal growth and the physical, regulatory and sociopolitical constraints on RPA municipal water demand. The RPIWRM is based on three reports created for the IWRM planning process: the Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer Future Municipal Water Demand, an update to the Rathdrum Prairie Wastewater Master Plan (Appendix A), and a municipal wastewater industrial reuse report (Appendix B). Additional analysis includes river management, municipal stormwater discharge and infiltration, and on-site residential wastewater disposal. The IWRM is informed and set in the context of local land use planning and water quality regulation. Integrated water resource management analysis indicates: * RPA water supply is sufficient to meet projected demand * Existing municipal wastewater treatment plants have or are building sufficient capacity to handle predicted growth within the Area of City Impacts for Coeur d'Alene, Post Falls, Rathdrum and Hayden for current regulated pollutants * Addition of PCBs or other constituents of emerging concern (CEC) to pollutants regulated by Spokane River Municipal Wastewater Treatment (MWWT) NPDES permits may drive institution of seasonal land application as the final disposal option for MWW effluent * Population expansion and attendant increase in water demand predicted for the Greenferry Water and Sewer District south of Post Falls is unlikely to occur without appropriate wastewater treatment options * Population expansion predicted for North Kootenai Water and Sewer District north of Hayden may be delayed by difficulty in changing land use zoning to support higher density development * Industrial reuse of treated MWW is feasible but unlikely unless the regulatory environment or water supply availability changes * Legislative clarification of 42-201(8) is necessary to clearly identify that industrial reuse of MWW effluent is automatically permitted as a water right * The volume of stormwater discharge to surface water will decrease * Infiltration of stormwater runoff is not significantly decreasing RPA water quality * Critical low flows in the Spokane River at the Spokane gage will be only marginally affected by water use and discharge flows on/from the Rathdrum Prairie * Effective IWRM for the RPA necessitates extension of IWRM to include the interests of Washington State, the Spokane Tribe, the Coeur d'Alene Tribe, and Avista Corporation
Subjects:
Water policy Water quality Water demand Pollution load Municipal water Municipal wastewater residential wastewater aquifer evaluation Aquifer characteristics
Location:
Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer; Spokane River
Collection:
IWRRI
IWRRI number:
201501
Rights:
Rights to the digital resource are held by the University of Idaho. http://www.uidaho.edu/
Publisher:
Idaho Water Resources Research Institute; University of Idaho
Contributing Institution:
University of Idaho
Type:
Text
Format:
application/pdf
Cataloger:
jh
Date Digitized:
2016-06-01

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Source
Preferred Citation:
"Rathdrum Prairie integrated water resource management", Idaho Waters Digital Library, University of Idaho Library Digital Collections, https://www.lib.uidaho.edu/digital/iwdl/items/iwdl-201501.html
Rights
Rights:
Rights to the digital resource are held by the University of Idaho. http://www.uidaho.edu/
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