Idaho city officials and volunteers worked all Thursday to hand clean debris out of the water system and restore water service to residents.

IDAHO CITY, Idaho — City officials and volunteers worked all Thursday to clean out the city’s water treatment facility after heavy rainfall earlier this week overwhelmed the water treatment facility with debris, forcing officials to shut off service to part of the community.

The unusual August rainfall washed significant debris into the city’s water system, clogging filters and making it impossible to process clean water for residents. Several businesses closed Thursday, and the Basin School District canceled classes for both Thursday and Friday.

RELATED: Idaho City temporarily shuts down water amid flash floods, causing school closures

Mayor Kenny Everhart said on Wednesday morning, Aug. 27, he ordered water to be shut off for approximately 30 households and several businesses in the central area until the damage could be reversed. 

Everhart told KTVB the rainfall, combined with wildfire damage from two years ago, created a perfect storm that left the treatment facility filled with mud and debris, which needed to be removed before they could send clean water to residents. 

“Two years ago, there were heavy fires up there, so all the vegetation is gone so with the heavy rain it washed a lot of silt clays into our source water,” Everhart said.

Everhart said it’s common for their system to experience strain because of its size and being tucked in a rural community, but they’ve never had to clean the system as intensely as Thursday. 

The water from the creek entering the system resembled “very dark chocolate milk with floating debris on the top,” he said. 

The backup made it impossible for the facility to filter incoming water, forcing Everhart to shut off water access for residents in part of the community.

“It was one thing we could do to keep the majority of the town supplied with water,” Everhart said. 

Trudy’s Kitchen, a restaurant along Highway 21, closed Thursday and will remain closed until they have running water. Manager of the restaurant, Ashley Elliot, said without running water, they were forced to close per the requirement of the health inspector. 

Sarsaparilla Ice Cream Parlor and Gift announced on Facebook, they too closed Thursday, hoping to reopen Friday. 

The local volunteer fire station provided bottled water on Thursday for affected residents, distributing about 50 cases from their own supplies.

“At least something clean for people to drink,” said a fire department volunteer, Ben Williams. 

For longtime resident Tina Smith, the water shortage created immediate concerns, and she utilized the resources being handed out at the fire station. 

“The biggest impact is just not having enough drinking water,” Smith said.

The city also has a water tank behind City Hall where residents can fill water jugs during the outage.

Additionally, the Idaho City Chamber of Commerce also stepped in to help community members without resources.

Chamber President Carter Elliot told KTVB that the chamber “purchased and distributed 200 cases of bottled water for local businesses and residents.” Elliot added that the chamber also “secured and coordinated the placement of porta-potties throughout town, made possible through the generous donation of units from Goffs Plumbing.”

“We are also seeking donations to help sustain these relief efforts. Every contribution goes directly toward emergency support. Any funds remaining after this state of emergency will be placed in a dedicated Chamber account to prepare for future community needs,” Elliot told KTVB. 

For more information or to make a donation, please visit idahocitychamber.org.

As of Friday afternoon, the city sent an update to the community:

We currently have one of three sand bays filled and sending water to the storage tank at the water plant and are beginning to fill a second sand bay. Our storage tank at the water plant is filling, and as soon as it is at a sufficient volume we will begin sending water to the main storage tank in town. Estimated time is approximately 2pm.

Once we achieve ten feet of water in the storage tank we will turn the highway area on for a limited time as we monitor the level of the storage tank. If everything continues to work, our plan is to turn the highway area off at 11pm and back on at 6am to allow the storage tank to fill overnight.


City officials and volunteers shoveled debris out of the water treatment facility by hand

City officials and volunteers spent all of Thursday manually cleaning the treatment facility, scooping and shoveling mud buildup into buckets to remove it from the system.

“This system has three isolated bays, it’s filled with a specific sand for filtering water, and these guys right now are scraping the top little bit of that muddy crust off the top and getting it out of their so that the water can get back to the sand to filtrate through,” Everhart explained.

Everhart said the situation was unprecedented for Idaho City.

“I’ve been on the city council since 2011, I’ve lived here since 1999, we have never had anything like this that we had to deal with,” he said. “We’re hoping either this evening or tomorrow morning we’ll be able to start sending water in here and producing water, and so as we can do that, we can open everything back up.”

As of 6 p.m. on Thursday, the city was allowing water from the creek back into its system to begin filtering. He said he’s hoping to start sending clean water back out to residents Friday morning. 

Everhart acknowledged that Idaho City’s water system operates differently from larger municipal systems. He said the system Idaho City has in place is what this community can financially afford, but noted that the city is working to prevent future incidents.

The city has received $3 million in grants from Idaho’s Department of Environmental Quality to make upgrades to the water treatment system, including the addition of more and larger pre-filters to catch debris before it enters the treatment facility. He said the upgrades should prevent future major debris buildup. He stated those upgrades could possibly be completed by this winter.Â