Akron Planning to Separate Combined Sewers, Receives Funding from Ohio EPA
9/3/15
PUBLIC INTEREST CENTER, (614) 644-2160
MEDIA CONTACT: Linda Fee Oros
CITIZEN CONTACT: Mike Settles
Akron Planning to Separate Combined Sewers, Receives Funding from Ohio EPA
Akron will receive $25.2 million dollars to pay for professional services related to planning, designing and management activities intended to address its Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) requirements.
Services provided through this low interest, Ohio EPA loan will lead to reduced overflows, eventually improving water quality in the Little Cuyahoga River watershed. Implementing various sewer separation, wet-weather storage and treatment system upgrade projects also will help bring the city into compliance with CSO requirements.
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 this $25.2 million dollar loan will save Akron over $900,000 compared to a conventional market-rate loan.
Besides 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 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 Water Resource Restoration Sponsorship 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 (OWDA). Ohio EPA is responsible for program development and implementation, individual project coordination and environmental and other technical reviews/approvals of projects seeking funds. OWDA 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.
Akron Planning to Separate Combined Sewers, Receives Funding from Ohio EPA
Source: Ohio Environmental News