Rosalia lands state grant to rebuild wastewater plant

Rosalia was awarded a $542,100 grant from the state Department of Commerce this week to renovate and upgrade its wastewater system.

Mayor Jim Stenhouse said the funding will be combined with funding previously acquired by the town to begin a $1.2 million complete overhaul of the town’s wastewater facilities.

The funding comes from the Community Development Block Grant program.

Rosalia was one of 18 cities and counties in the state to receive the grant. The Department of Commerce awarded $13 million.

Work will include new pumps, a new lift station and testing stations through town. The funding will also be used to raise the dikes around the town’s sewer lagoons.

The city council has awarded a construction contract to Contractors Northwest of Spokane. The project has been designed by JUB Engineers of Spokane.

Stenhouse said more work will be done to the town’s wastewater system in the next several years, with the project having an overall price tag of more than $4 million.

Renovation of the wastewater system is part of a busy construction season in Rosalia.

With a $99,138 grant from the state Transportation Improvement Board, more than 2,050 feet of the north end of Whitman Avenue will be resurfaced next month.

Crews will put down two-inch surface on the street from the 2nd Avenue intersection downtown, north to the North Inland Empire Highway loop.

Stenhouse added the tie down and apron area at the Rosalia airport will also be resurfaced this summer through a grant from the Federal Aviation Administration and the state Department of Transportation Aviation division.

The airport is seeing more and more traffic and is selling a lot of fuel from its station. Stenhouse said the Rosalia Airport is a particularly popular spot for training pilots who fly down from Spokane.

The project is being funded with a $33,848 grant from the FAA and a $890 from the state.