The street in front of the Bootleggers building, now owned by Rain Fire, has been a hub of activity recently as crews have been working to repair water and sewer lines leading into the building.

Dave Jackson with Rain Fire wanted to wait until later to talk about the building and Rain Fire’s plans for it.  Brent McClarnon, superintendent of the wastewater board for Kemmerer and Diamondville, provided information on the work being done to the water and sewer lines.

McClarnon said, “We don’t have the finances to replace all the water and sewer lines in the downtown Triangle. We did put in a new water line from the main to the Rain Fire building and repaired the sanitary sewer line.”

McClarnon is responsible for the daily operation of all water and waste water access, which includes distribution and collection and for the Kemmerer city dam and reservoir. He said that the waste water treatment plant in Kemmerer is 42 years old and the estimated time for replacement and/or updates to treatment plants is 20-25 years.

“The water and sewer lines are all 40-75 years old,” McClarnon said. “They are still operational but are definitely aging and some of the 75-year-old clay water lines crack and crumble. We don’t have millions of dollars to replace them, so all we can do is band-aid them.”

The Joint Powers Board hired engineering firm Keller & Associates to produce a preliminary report on the cost to update the city's water assets, which were grandfathered in and do not meet current codes, McClarnon said.

“The estimate for the upgrades prior to their study was somewhere in the amount of $40 to $50 million,” McClarnon said. “We are hoping, after the design study, they will find it to be less.”

McClarnon said he had applied for ARPA grant monies. He and Kemmerer Mayor Bill Thek had attended the State Land and Investment Board (SLIB) meeting in November, where the recipients for the $50 million the state had to distribute were to be determined.  McClarnon said SLIB used a point system for ranking the applications which totaled the amount of $129 million requested by the different entities.  He said Kemmerer lost out on the point system.

One of the ARPA grants McClarnon had applied for was to replace water transmission lines and a second grant application was to replace waste water lift stations and purchase a backup generator. He said that Kemmerer and Diamondville currently do not have a backup generator at the waste water treatment plant and they do not have a back-up water resource in case the river runs dry due to severe drought conditions.

“Even if we had received both ARPA grants, they would have only paid for 85% of the cost and the city would have to come up with matching funds which would have cleaned out our emergency funds,” McClarnon said. “Even if everyone in Kemmerer and Diamondville combined gave money it would never be enough for the needed upgrades, replacement of water and sewer lines and a new treatment plant. The state and federal government need to help small rural communities.”

Several meetings had been held with city officials, the Joint Powers Board, and leaders of new companies  Terra Power, Tri-Site, Glenrock Energy/Kanata and Rain Fire to see if any of those companies could financially assist the city in making the necessary upgrades.  Most of the companies mentioned, McClarnon said, are startup companies and are already taking financial risks and don’t have the resources at this time.

The Joint Powers Board has been asking state legislators and U.S. Representative Cynthia Lummis and Senator Liz Cheney for help.  Lincoln County hired Mary Crosby as a grant writer and McClarnon continues to pursue grant opportunities. He said he also wrote to Gov. Mark Gordon for assistance.

In the meantime, McClarnon said, the Joint Powers Board is doing everything they can to manage the repairs.  They hired a company to spray-coat man holes with an epoxy liner to keep the groundwater from seeping through the old brick and mortar lines, into the water treatment system and causing added cost due to extra cleaning required.

“We are between a rock and a hard place right now,” McClarnon said. “It is hard for small communities to keep up with the changes and with growth. We have a nuclear plant coming and other companies and our water lines and waste water treatment plant will not be able to handle it all.”