Closing America’s Wastewater Access Gap Initiative (CAWAG)

Project Partners

About CAWAG

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is partnering with a number of local agencies and organizations to evaluate the on-site wastewater systems along Lake Cascade. The project area focuses on the southern portion of Lake Cascade and the subdivisions within South Lake Recreational Water and Sewer District’s service area. The goal is to identify improvements to reduce the number of on-site wastewater systems that affect Lake Cascade’s water quality (link to Implementation Plan for the Cascade Reservoir Phase II Watershed Management Plan, 2000, IDEQ and DRAFT Lake Cascade Local Synoptic Groundwater Monitoring Study, Sep 2004, https://www2.deq.idaho.gov/admin/LEIA/api/document/download/22523 ) and funding sources to design and construct the selected improvements. This project is in its early stages and will build on past work to identify alternatives (link to Valley  County South Lake Sewer Facilities Planning Study, 2005, Keller Associates).

This project is being supported through the EPA’s Closing America’s Wastewater Access Gap Initiative (www.epa.gov/water-infrastructure/closing-americas-wastewater-access-gap). As part of this initiative, the EPA provides no-cost technical assistance to project partners to identify wastewater options for the region and develop technical documents to support a funding application to construct the identified improvements. Technical assistance provided includes identifying alternatives, developing preliminary costs for each alternative, obtaining community input on alternatives, and selecting the preferred alternative that best meets the community’s needs. The technical assistance can also include preparation of a preliminary engineering report. This initiative—along with historic funding availability through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and other federal funding programs for water infrastructure—will help communities who are burdened by the lack of adequate wastewater services.