Coeur D'Alene Water Department

The Water Department's goal is to provide tasty and healthful water at a reasonable price at consistent pressures and in sufficient quantities. Originally, the City of Coeur d’ Alene obtained all of its water from Lake Coeur d’ Alene. Today, our sole source of water is the Rathdrum Prairie aquifer. The Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer is an underground river whose depth varies between 150-280 feet below the surface. The aquifer begins at Pend Oreille Lake and flows southwesterly to Spokane, WA. The aquifer’s boundaries are the foothills that define the flat prairie land between these two points. An aquifer study in 1978 estimated the flow at the Idaho/Washington border at 650,000,000 gal/day.