Where: Yellow Pine, Valley County, Idaho

Problem: Small water systems lack technical, managerial and financial capacity.

Solution: Rural Community Assistance Corporation (RCAC) provides assistance to access funding

Yellow Pine is an unincorporated census-designated place (CDP) in Valley County, Idaho. In 2019, the population of Yellow Pine was 246. This small mining community’s water storage and distribution systems were seriously damaged by earthquakes in 2020.

Fortunately, by working closely with RCAC technical assistance provider Jeremy Peirsol, Yellow Pine Water Users Association was able to create balance sheets for the organization that allowed them to pursue two Emergency Community Water Assistance Grants (ECWAG). Initially, this was a difficult task due to a lack of data. An asset inventory had to be created with no starting balance to work with. Also, since Yellow Pine is a mostly seasonal community, many board members do not live there year-round, which created additional obstacles when it came to obtaining the data needed to create balance sheets.

With the help of the community and its dedicated engineer, the balance sheets were eventually finalized. With the community’s balance sheets completed, Yellow Pine Water Users Association was awarded the two ECWAG grants totaling $150,000 for distribution in 2021 and $1 million for treatment in 2022.

Also in this issue:

RCAC Interview: Idaho USDA Rural Development Director Rudy Soto

RCAC presents a series of discussions with state directors for United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development (USDA RD). The series will provide a glimpse at USDA RD’s priorities and how state directors hope to assist rural communities in our region. In this issue, we spoke to Rudy Soto, State Director, USDA Rural Development-Idaho. Read more