Warden receives grant for lift station

— Staff report

Project estimated to take up to two years

WARDEN - The city and port of Warden received a $28,800 grant to pay for designing a wastewater lift station.

The strategic infrastructure grant is a state-funded program awarded by the Grant County Economic Development Council and administered by Grant County. The money will pay most of Columbia Northwest Engineering's $36,000 bill for designing a lift station.

The city and port are supplying $7,200 for this part of the project.

The station will take the waste from Washington Potato, Ochoa Foods, Simplot Fertilizer, Pureline Seeds and Columbia Seed to the new waste treatment plant under construction, according to the grant application. The waste is currently stored in an evaporation lagoon.

"The (Washington state) Department of Ecology will require the current discharge go to the new system," the application stated. "In addition, the port and (the) city own and plan on developing land along Basin Street that will be served by this sewer line extension."

The engineering should take six months to complete, according to the application. The total project should take one to two years.