Springfield-Area Community Improving Drinking Water; Receives Funding from Ohio EPA

WASHINGTON, D.C. – July 24, 2015 – (RealEstateRama) — Greenlawn Village Condominium Unit Owners Inc. will make major improvements to its drinking water system, thanks to a low-interest loan from Ohio EPA. The project will replace and add infrastructure, including filter tanks to remove arsenic from the water supply.

Specifically, the project replaces well pumps and pressure tanks and adds manganese dioxide filter tanks, a clearwell and two high-service pumps. The condominium community is located in German Township, Clark County.

Created in 1998, the Water Supply Revolving Loan Account (WSRLA) provides below-market interest rate loans for compliance-related improvements for community water systems and non-profit, non-community public water systems. In this case, the full loan is for $496,996.62. Greenlawn Village qualifies for $88,000 in principal forgiveness (funds that do not have to be repaid) with the remaining $408,996.62 being financed at a 0 percent interest rate. The WSRLA financing will save Greenlawn Village $375,000 compared to a conventional, market-rate loan.

Projects eligible for WSRLA funding include design and construction loans for new, replaced, rehabilitated, upgraded or expanded water treatment plants and their components. In addition, the WSRLA can provide technical assistance to public drinking water 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.

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 WSRLA is managed jointly by Ohio EPA’s Division of Environmental and Financial Assistance and Division of Drinking and Ground Waters, 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 WSRLA is available at: http://epa.ohio.gov/ddagw/financialassistance.aspx.

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.

PUBLIC INTEREST CENTER, (614) 644-2160
MEDIA CONTACT: Dina Pierce
CITIZEN CONTACT: Darla Peelle