The Spokane County Board of County Commissioners has allocated up to $675,000 from the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Funding - through the Clean Water: Water Conservation
ARP category - to Spokane County Parks, Recreation & Golf to replace and modernize irrigation systems at Holmberg, Camelot, Northwoods, and Pine River community parks. The
goal is to reduce water consumption and allow for a responsive watering approach, adjusting to weather conditions to reduce the amount of water used at all four sites. Many of these
irrigation systems were designed and installed in the late-1980s-to-early-1990s before much of today’s irrigation technology was available.
Commissioner Josh Kerns, who represents the district where these projects will take place, stated, “I’m excited that we were able to utilize ARP dollars for these long-term projects.
Our parks will benefit from this investment for decades to come.”
“This funding will absolutely be a significant boost to these parks. The efficiency gained through these new systems is one of several strategies we’re working toward implementing to
provide a more sustainable park system to County residents,” said Curt Chambers, Operations Manager for Spokane County Parks, Recreation & Golf.
“We appreciate the County’s efforts to reduce water consumption at these sites. As a water purveyor, we must plan for peak hour demand, so anything that helps reduce that peak
can translate into future cost savings to ratepayers. Reduced demand allows us to delay adding additional costly capacity upgrades to the water system,” said Tim Murrell, General
Manager for the Whitworth Water District.
The installation of the new irrigation systems is anticipated to commence in 2023. For more information on this project and others, please visit: www.spokanecounty.org/parks/ and
click on “Get Involved.”
Original source can be found here.