The first year in a Post Falls house: aquifer water, swales and snow zones

A new house in Post Falls comes with a few local rules that the closing papers do not mention. Most of them trace back to one fact: the town sits on top of its own drinking water. This guide goes through the first year in the order the chores come up, from finding out who supplies your water to what happens when the plow comes down your street.

Find out who supplies your water

Not every Post Falls address is on city water. The City of Post Falls Water Division serves about 20,000 homes and businesses inside city limits through more than 128 miles of pipe, 10 wells and 5 reservoirs, pumping an average of 5.8 million gallons a day. Other water districts serve some residents inside the city too. The city points people to a water provider finder run by the regional aquifer group; put in your address and it tells you which one is yours. Do that first, because the rules below are the city's.

For a water problem on city service, the Water Division asks you to call it first; it says a call often sorts out the issue and saves you money. After hours, the city routes water emergencies through the police non-emergency line.

What is under you

The water comes from the Spokane Valley-Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer, one of the most productive in the country. It holds about ten trillion gallons in gravels, cobbles and boulders left by the glacial floods of Lake Missoula, and it supplies more than 500,000 people in the region. In 1978 it became the second aquifer the EPA designated a sole source aquifer.

The same coarse gravel that makes it productive also leaves it exposed. The aquifer is unconfined, with no protective layer, so what goes on the ground can reach it. That explains most of the rules in this guide.

Spring: the backflow test

If your irrigation system has a backflow prevention assembly, the city requires a test every year. For a residential account the deadline is within 15 days of turning the irrigation system on, and before June 15. The city publishes a list of registered backflow assembly testers. Put it on the calendar for the day you charge the sprinklers.

Each fall the Water Division adds chlorine to the system as routine maintenance, holding it above a set level for about a month.

The swale beside your lot

Many Post Falls lots sit beside a swale, a shallow grassy strip that takes the runoff from streets, driveways and roofs. It is part of the city's stormwater system. The city says about 99 percent of its stormwater goes into swales and dry wells, where it filters through sand and gravel into the aquifer. Only a small part of the city drains to the Spokane River instead.

Property owners keep the swale next to their property clear and working. Grass belongs there; trees and shrubs do not, because they interfere with drainage. The pollutants the city worries about are the ordinary ones: oil, grease, pesticides, fertilizers, pet waste and litter. Keep fertilizer and oil off the pavement, and pick up after the dog. The city takes reports of illicit discharges if you see someone dumping into a swale or storm drain.

Used water from sinks, toilets and showers is a different system. It goes to the city's Water Reclamation Facility, which treats about 3.5 million gallons a day from Post Falls and Rathdrum.

Summer: the yard

Post Falls is in USDA plant hardiness zone 6b, meaning an average coldest winter night of 5 below to zero. The nearest long-term weather record is the Coeur d'Alene station a few miles east. On average its last spring freeze comes around April 28 and its first fall freeze around October 17, which gives a garden a season of roughly five and a half months.

Summer is the dry part of the year. July and August each average less than an inch of rain at that station, and a normal year brings about 18 days above 90 degrees. Lawns lean on the sprinklers through those months.

Trees are worth thinking about before you plant or prune. The city's Urban Forestry Division publishes a Tree Standards Manual and a short piece on why to hire an arborist, and it is a good first read before any big tree job near the street.

Winter: snow zones and snow gates

Winter brings about 28 inches of snow in an average year at the Coeur d'Alene station, most of it in December and January. The city plows in a set order:

1. Priority 1: arterials and the main emergency routes.
2. Priority 2: collector streets that reach schools, medical facilities and public buildings.
3. Priority 3: residential streets and cul-de-sacs, divided into five zones with rotating plow teams (four zones if staffing is short).

Plowing starts on the priority routes once about 2 inches builds up. Neighborhood streets are usually plowed once snow reaches 4 inches or more, and crews pull back to the main routes if the snow keeps falling. The city has an interactive map of the residential zones that is live while plows are in the neighborhoods, and it sends text and email alerts to anyone who signs up.

The loader plows carry snow gates on residential streets. They cut down the berm across your driveway, but they do not remove it, and they can leave snow in front of the mailbox.

Your side of the job:

• Clear your own driveway and the sidewalk along your property.
• Do not push snow from the driveway or sidewalk into the street. City code forbids it.
• Park off the street during a snow event. A car that gets plowed in is its owner's to dig out.
• Move basketball hoops that sit in or hang over the street.
• The mailbox is the responsibility of whoever gets mail there.

For ice, the city pre-treats priority routes with magnesium chloride, spreads sand at major intersections when it is too cold for the liquid to work, and uses salt in limited amounts on hills, roundabouts and intersections.

Using our listings

Our Plumbers, Landscaping, Roofing, and Heating and Air Conditioning categories list businesses working in Post Falls, with addresses and phone numbers, and the Handyman Services page covers the smaller jobs. If you want someone else to clear the driveway, book it in the fall, before the first storm.