NAMPA, Idaho — A wetland project is coming to Nampa to help improve water quality along Indian Creek.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Deputy Administrator Janet McCabe was in Nampa on Wednesday to award the city a $3.5 million grant to finish the design and start construction of the Karcher Wetland Project, a 6-acre constructed wetland that will be located off the I-84/Karcher interchange.
The constructed wetland will be able to filter out pollutants in the water, improve water quality and reduce storm water runoff.
"There's a lot of toxics in runoff and urban runoff and rural runoff, and they get into waterways like Indian Creek, which flows into the Snake River, which flows ultimately into the Columbia River in this part of this big, precious basin," McCabe said. "We want to keep those toxins out of the water. Wetlands function as natural filters, the water goes through, the plumes get caught and trapped, and sort of processed – it's sort of like nature's kidneys."
The wetland project will also have a pedestrian and bike path for recreation.
Indian Creek is a tributary of the Columbia River, and Nampa's first constructed wetland project is one of many that's part of the Columbia River Basin Restoration Program funding clean water in the Columbia River.
"These waterways provide so much value," McCabe said. "They improve our health when the water is clean, they improve economic opportunity, recreational opportunities, they improve the biodiversity. All of that has to be healthy for us to have healthy and long-lasting communities."
Money from the grant comes from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
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