Looking north from downtown Shoshoni in 2018. (Andrew Graham/WyoFile)
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A measure to spend $8 million to assess what it would take to fix aging wastewater and stormwater infrastructure sailed out of the Senate Agriculture, State and Public Lands and Water Resources Committee on a unanimous vote.

Senate File 69, “Waste and storm water infrastructure study,” would tap the Strategic Investments and Projects Account and support a four-year statewide assessment to help town and state officials determine exact needs and costs, according to the bill’s proponents.

Crews scrambled in 2023 to repair multiple breaks in a water pipeline that serves the twin towns of Kemmerer and Diamondville. (Kemmerer-Diamondville)

Some estimate that upgrading municipal water systems across the state could cost billions of dollars.

“Across Wyoming, these systems are aging, strained and, in many cases, operating far beyond their intended lifespan,” Wyoming Association of Municipalities Executive Director Ashley Harpstreith told the committee. “Most of the municipal water infrastructure was built 40 to 60 years ago, and communities are now facing escalating failures, emergency repairs and rising compliance costs.”

Wyoming’s small towns are in a pinch, Harpstreith added. They must upgrade aging water infrastructure to meet national standards, but they have among the smallest per-capita bases in the nation to generate necessary funds. While it’s typically up to each town to fund its own water systems, they inevitably seek help from state and federal sources.

Lander Republican Rep. Lloyd Larsen suggested that a comprehensive assessment of needs will help towns understand what they might have to charge residents to pay for upgrades. It will also give state officials credible estimates when towns inevitably ask for help.

“So this information is going to help us make a much more educated estimate on the needs,” Larsen said. That information, he added, could then help the state determine the source of financing and revenue to tap into to help municipalities get caught up and maintain their critical infrastructure.

The bill moves to the full Senate for consideration.

For more legislative coverage, click here

Dustin Bleizeffer covers energy and climate at WyoFile. He has worked as a coal miner, an oilfield mechanic, and for more than 25 years as a statewide reporter and editor primarily covering the energy...

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