UPPER VALLEY - Senator Crapo began his tour in Rigby, where a new veteran memorial is being built that will honor armed service personnel from every war dating back to the Civil War.

"I think it's important to not only recognize the service of those out there today put their lives on the line but look back into time and recognize that we have had people valiantly protection our nation, throughout our history," said Senator Mike Crapo.

Over 3,000 names will be put on plaques at the monument, and after the Senator got a tour of it, he then turned his mind to water troubles.

Crapo said, "Water is the lifeblood of our economy and our community here in Idaho. It's everything from our recreation to our drinking water, to our agricultural, to our flood control, to our power generation, and the list goes on and on and on."

Newdale is being forced by the EPA to lower levels of arsenic and floride in the drinking water, but for a city with only 305 people, they just can't afford the $1.2 million dollar project.

"One of our big issues that we face right now, a lot of our small communities are faced with very difficult and expensive problems as they try to upgrade their infrastructure," said Crapo.

Other cities are having similar problems. Driggs is being forced to clean up their sewage system, and it will cost at least $8-million dollars to build a new sewer lagoon to meet EPA standards.

"Primarily that's because of the very heavy federal mandates that for small communiites that don't have the economy of scale, are facing very very expensive propositions," said Crapo.

Driggs is also struggling to pay insurance for vehicles that cross state lines into Wyoming as part of a program that transports employees into Jackson. The Senator left both Newdale and Driggs with promises he'd look into possible funding solutions and ended today's tour in Victor, where he was invited to cut a ribbon

Everyone will now be using Reverse Angle Parking along main street in Victor. And as the Senator and I found out first hand, it will take a little getting used to.

"We are always looking at improving our infrastructures in our small communities because that's what drives economic development. It improves the quality of life for our community. Where it's water in one circumstance, in this case it's transportation and the public improvements to the road and system," said Crapo.

A busy day for Idaho's senior senator.