Stark County Receives Funding from Ohio EPA to Help Homeowners with Failing Home Sewage Systems

WASHINGTON, D.C. – (RealEstateRama) — Ohio EPA awarded Stark County a $300,000 principal forgiveness loan through Ohio EPA’s Home Sewage Treatment System Repair and Replacement Program which will help qualifying homeowners address failing septic systems.

The program is part of the Water Pollution Control Loan Fund (WPCLF) and is designed to improve quality of life for local residents who meet program criteria by eliminating failing home sewage treatment systems at an affordable cost. In addition to correcting potential health concerns, local water quality will benefit from the improvements. In areas where failing home sewage systems in the Lake Erie basin are targeted, nutrient and bacteria runoff into the lake should be reduced.

Eligible Stark County homeowners will receive either 100 percent, 85 percent or 50 percent principal forgiveness toward the cost of repairing or replacing their failing home sewage systems. The percentage of principal forgiveness assistance is dependent on the family household income levels.

Created in 1989, the WPCLF provides below-market interest rate loans for communities to improve their wastewater treatment systems. Because this is a principal forgiveness loan, the Stark County Health Department will save an estimated $401,000.

In addition to 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 help 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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MEDIA CONTACT: Lindey Amer
CITIZEN CONTACT: Mike Settles