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Council authorizes city to apply for FEMA grant to improve water treatment resiliency
Summary
City staff will seek federal funds to upgrade water-treatment capabilities in case a large wildfire or other watershed event increases turbidity and contaminants in the drinking-water supply; the council authorized the application and acknowledged that the city would need to provide a 25% match if awarded.
The Walla Walla City Council authorized city staff to apply for a FEMA grant to fund major upgrades to water-treatment infrastructure aimed at improving resiliency against high-turbidity events such as wildfires in the watershed.
City staff said the grant opportunity would support measures such as coagulation and flocculation upgrades, intake structure hardening, reservoir mixing improvements and extension of sewer service to allow required wastewater discharge from new treatment processes. The application seeks up to $43 million; FEMA requires a 25% local match for awards, which would be roughly $10.75 million if the full request is funded.
Why it matters: The city's primary drinking-water source comes from a watershed that has seen prescribed burns and wildfire activity. Staff described scenarios in other jurisdictions where fires produced heavily turbid water that impaired treatment systems and left utilities unable to supply potable water. "If there is a catastrophic fire in the watershed, the scorched-earth kind of fire will be very damaging to the city's primary drinking water supply," a staff presenter said.
Staff said the request is part of a wider strategy that includes continued collaboration with the U.S. Forest Service on proactive forest treatment. The FEMA application would fund treatment-plant resiliency and some watershed measures to make the system better able to handle elevated turbidity and sediment loads following a burn or major flood.
Funding considerations: The FEMA program the city is targeting allows large awards (the staff presentation cited program caps near $50 million). Because the grant requires a 25% match, staff told council they would return for final acceptance if the city is awarded the grant and would identify a borrowing or capital-funding package at that time. "If we were successful in being awarded the grant, we would come back then to ask for acceptance of the grant with the additional funding," staff said. Council members asked about potential match sources such as Public Works Trust Fund loans and capital reserves.
Process and timeline: The council authorized staff to proceed with the application, which has a short window for completion. Staff noted these federal grants can take many months to process and that award would not mean immediate construction; multiple design and permitting steps would be needed.
Outcome and next steps: Council approved the resolution authorizing the FEMA grant application. If the city is invited to accept an award, staff will return to council with a full funding plan for the required local match and implementation schedule.
Votes and outcome: Council voted unanimously to authorize the city to apply for the FEMA water-treatment resiliency grant.
