On April 10, 2026, The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) sued the city of Rexburg, Idaho for discharging pollutants and wastewater into the South Fork Teton River. The DEQ claimed that Rexburg's Wastewater Treatment Plant released an illegal amount of Total Suspended Solids (TSS) released into the river, according to the official complaint document. 

The alleged excess in Total Suspended Solids occurred 13 times in a 23-month period, from Feb. 01, 2024, to Dec. 31, 2025. 

“These violations are ongoing continuous and presumed likely to continue," the DEQ claims in the document.

One incident alleged by the DEQ happened during a power outage on March 17, 2024. This lapse in power led to one of the plant’s calcifiers shutting down, bypassing and discharging 30,000 gallons of contaminated water into the South Fork Teton River. 

Another incident cited by the DEQ occurred during a construction accident. 

“Construction activities at the State HWY-33 intersection ruptured a main sewer collection system pipe, which resulted in a release of 1,968,750 gallons of untreated wastewater into the construction site along with a stormwater retention pond, with an unknown amount of untreated wastewater discharged into the South Fork of the Teton River.” The DEQ stated. 

The city of Burly Idaho has also been sued by the DEQ. During the five years prior to the lawsuit, the DEQ claimed that the city had repeatedly discharged pollutants into the Snake River.

From the years 2021 to 2025, the level of water pollutants exceeded the legal limit by 221% on average. the lowest being 3% and the highest being 1,738%.

“Since that intent to sue, the DEQ is working with both cities to address those issues that were identified in the intent to sue,” said Alex Bell, regional manager at the Department of Environmental Quality in Idaho Falls. 

Ryan Sargent, a chemistry professor at BYUI, believes the lawsuit will push all the parties involved towards the larger goal of clean water.

"So when the DEQ sues the city of Rexburg, the city now has to take its tax money and then shift it over here to fix the problem.” Sargent explained. "If we show that our wastewater treatment facility is systemically creating problems, then that lawsuit actually just kind of forces the hand of the city management to deal with the problem that has been building up over time.” 

Sargent acknowledged that more facts may come out as the case moves forward, but his initial response is one of hope that Rexburg will now be able to prioritize some improvements in the Wastewater Treatment Facility.

Carlo Pipitone, a student majoring in biology at BYUI, stated that he's passionate about environmental issues and that society has a tendency not to prioritize taking care of the environment until it's too late.

"Environmentalists are like, 'Hey, we need to do something about this, we need to do something about this,' but because it's not an in-your-face issue, nobody really cares until it is an in-your-face issue, and now we have a scramble to fix it." Explained Pipitone. "Increasing funding in environmental agencies will, and trust in environmental agencies will prevent the downfall and subsequent scramble to fix the downfall that we see pretty often today."