Niles to Improve Wastewater Treatment; Receiving Financing from Ohio EPA
Washington, D.C. – February 1, 2015 – (RealEstateRama) — Niles will rehabilitate, expand and upgrade its wastewater treatment plant to increase wet weather storage and treatment capacity using a loan from Ohio EPA. The project will improve water quality in the Mahoning River.
Niles will upgrade its existing wastewater treatment components and structures to address sanitary sewer overflows within the city’s collection system including a bypass at the city’s wastewater treatment plant. The project is necessary to replace antiquated equipment that has reached the end of its useful life. As the facility improves its ability to remove nutrients before discharging effluent, water quality in the Mahoning River should improve as well. The project is expected to be complete in about three years.
Created in 1989, the Water Pollution Control Loan Fund (WPCLF) provides below-market interest rate loans for communities to improve their wastewater treatment systems. The reduced interest rate on the $35.23 million loan will save Niles about $11 million compared to a conventional, market-rate loan.
The project is part of Ohio EPA’s current $100 million HAB-related nutrient reduction effort to help wastewater systems reduce the levels of phosphorus and other discharged pollutants that can contribute to harmful algal blooms (HABs).
Along with improvements to publicly-owned treatment works, WPCLF loans have been provided for agricultural best management practices, home sewage system improvements, landfill closures and water quality-based storm water projects. The WPCLF provides technical assistance to public wastewater systems in a variety of areas from the planning, design and construction of improvements to enhancing the technical, managerial and financial capacity of these systems. WPCLF loans also make possible the restoration and protection of some of Ohio’s highest quality water bodies through the fund’s Water Resource Restoration Sponsor Program.
Ohio EPA’s revolving loan funds are partially supported by federal grants and designed to last indefinitely through repayment of loans and investments in bonds. The loan program is managed by Ohio EPA’s Division of Environmental and Financial Assistance, with assistance from the Ohio Water Development Authority. Ohio EPA is responsible for program development and implementation, individual project coordination, and environmental and other technical reviews/approvals of projects seeking funds. The Ohio Water Development Authority provides financial management of the fund.
More information about the WPCLF is available at: epa.ohio.gov/defa/EnvironmentalandFinancialAssistance.aspx.
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The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency was created in 1972 to consolidate efforts to protect and improve air quality, water quality and waste management in Ohio. Since then, air pollutants dropped by as much as 90 percent; large rivers meeting standards improved from 21 percent to 89 percent; and hundreds of polluting, open dumps were replaced with engineered landfills and an increased emphasis on waste reduction and recycling.
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