Sale of Orofino lumber company means end of water system

Residents who rely on spring water supplied by a northern Idaho lumber mill are worried they will lose their water once the pending sale of the mill is complete. Konkolville Lumber Co. near Orofino maintains a spring-fed water system supplying about 25 residents who pay $25 per month.

Tri-Pro Forest Products, based in Priest River, is buying the mill and has said it has no interest in running the system and supplying water. 

  Don Konkol, senior owner of Konkolville Lumber, told The Lewiston Tribune he could not discuss the sale or anything concerning the water supply. The sale is scheduled to be finalized March 2.

  The Konkolville neighborhood is in an area served by the Orofino Creek-Whiskey Creek Water and Sewer District, but directors there said they don't want to take over the spring-fed system.

  Julia Irby, secretary-treasure of the water district, has asked Orofino city officials to begin negotiations to supply the Konkolville area with water. Orofino officials have been considering ways of supplying people in the unincorporated neighborhood with water, but say it's not a simple process.

  “Legally, the city cannot arbitrarily cross over into another district's service area and start selling water,'' Orofino City Administrator Rick Laam wrote in a letter to Irby.

  The city has a water line that approaches to within 300 feet of the Konkolville area. But Laam wrote that the city is creating its own water plan and is not able to consider selling water to Konkolville residents until that plan is complete.