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Idaho to receive $4.6 million in federal funding for water restoration projects 

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Idaho to receive $4.6 million in federal funding for water restoration projects 

Jul 06, 2022 | 6:14 am ET
By Clark Corbin
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Idaho to receive $4.6 million in federal funding for water restoration projects 
Description
A canal in the Western United States. The Bureau of Reclamation announced funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will support water projects in Idaho and across the West. (Courtesy of Bureau of Reclamation)

Groups in Idaho are set to receive more than $4.6 million in federal funding for a series of three water restoration projects in Idaho, officials from the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation announced in a press release Tuesday.

Idaho’s funding for water projects is part of a larger $36 million initiative, with $26.7 million coming from the Infrastructure, Investment and Jobs Act, which is also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, that President Joe Biden signed into law in November 2021. 

Idaho’s funding recipients include Friends of the Teton River, which is getting $2 million for reconnecting Canyon Creek, the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation, which is receiving $1.9 million for Battle Creek ecological restoration and the Board of Control for Triangle Irrigation and Wood River, which will receive $629,000 for diversion stabilization and fish passage remediation projects. 

Including Idaho’s three projects, there are 27 different projects across 12 states that will receive a share of funding, Bureau of Reclamation officials said in the press release. The funding is intended to help protect watersheds affected by wildfires, restore aquatic habitats and stream beds and to reduce the effects of drought. 

“Through the Water Smart program funded under this law, we are addressing a variety of regional challenges to increase water reliability and accessibility for families, farmers and Tribes,” Assistant Secretary for Water and Science Tanya Trujillo said in a written statement. “Today’s investment will conserve water, restore riparian habitat and stream function, and improve watershed health to benefit local supplies and the surrounding environment.”

Other projects will go to restoring or protecting areas damaged by the Caldor Fire in California and Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, Bureau of Reclamation officials said. 

More information about all of the projects is available on the Bureau of Reclamation’s website.