Aging Water Infrastructure

The Town of Jackson’s Wastewater Treatment Plant was originally constructed as a lagoon system in the late 1970s and upgrades have not been made to the plant since 1995. It is time to upgrade it to a state-of-the-art Mechanical Wastewater Treatment Plant.

The Town of Jackson is responsible for maintaining drinking water and sewer lines throughout their service area. Ongoing maintenance is planned and scheduled, but constant development within our community and an increase in visitors means that new demands are consistently placing greater pressure on these systems. Future growth with an aging system needs to be addressed.

Some areas in Jackson produce just enough water to meet demand during peak summer usage.

New wells are needed to help ensure enough water supply for firefighting during the peak demand periods. The Town is exploring new locations for a new water supply well. Residents should also be mindful and conscientious with daily water use.

Our region’s housing shortage is impacting our water quality. Staffing deficits at the town, county, state, and federal levels are resulting in limited resources to address broad community needs.

We need highly-trained and qualified people to be able to take care of our water. From the installers replacing aging lines under our streets, to wastewater treatment plant operators, and town and county employees to oversee the projects – they are all necessary if we are able to meet the demands a growing community places on its infrastructure.

The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) have delivered the single-largest investment in U.S. water infrastructure ever. The Town of Jackson and Teton County need to take advantage of these one-in-a-lifetime funding opportunities while they are still available to upgrade our aging water and wastewater infrastructure.