The Alderpoint Community Water District will be one step closer to making needed improvements to its drinking water filtration system, thanks to a Community Development Block Grant, part of a funding package recently awarded to Humboldt County by the California Department of Housing and Community Development.

Alderpoint CWD will receive $70,000 for site investigation and pilot testing of filtration methods needed so that the district can then apply a much larger grant/loan package to complete the project.

Some of the homes in Alderpoint have been under a boil order for many years because its current filtration system was considered out of compliance with state surface water treatment rules since 1986.

With only 71 households in the district, ACWD cannot raise enough money on its own for even the preliminary studies needed in the first stage of a project that is estimated to cost $1.5 million, board member Karen Horn said.

After the site investigation and pilot testing have been done, ACWD will be eligible for a bridge loan from the Rural Community Assistance Corporation to cover the cost of the complete engineering studies needed to receive a grant/loan package from the California Department of Public Health-Drinking Water Division to pay for the actual construction of the project. Alderpoint's old redwood storage tank is leaking severely. A new storage tank will be included in the project. The water district hopes to begin the improvements in the summer of 2012.