X

St. Lawrence County sewer projects could get a share of $154M in federal Clean Water Fund money

Posted 12/12/14

If the 2015 federal spending bill passes as written, 66 North Country mandated sewer projects that are awaiting funding could receive part of $154 million, according to Senator Charles Schumer. …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

St. Lawrence County sewer projects could get a share of $154M in federal Clean Water Fund money

Posted

If the 2015 federal spending bill passes as written, 66 North Country mandated sewer projects that are awaiting funding could receive part of $154 million, according to Senator Charles Schumer.

“The Clean Water Fund can be highly leveraged to garner significant resources for municipalities to invest in water infrastructure,” said Schumer. “Having effective sewer systems are critical to public health and helping New York towns and villages grow and prosper, and I was proud to go to bat for this program to ensure that projects across the state were not scrapped or put on the back burner.”

Not only do local governments repair and upgrade their sewer infrastructure due to concerns about the environment or public health, but often they are mandated to do so in order to comply with the federal Clean Water Act. The act requires communities to improve water quality, achieve and maintain compliance with environmental laws, protect aquatic wildlife, protect and restore drinking water sources, and preserve our nation's waters for recreational use. In order to comply, local governments must invest significant funds into sewer repair and upgrade projects, Schumer said.

In order to help local governments afford these major sewer infrastructure projects, the Environmental Protection Agency provides funding to states through the Clean Water State Revolving Fund program. CWSRF funding allows each state to maintain a revolving loan fund that provides independent and permanent sources of low-cost financing to local cities and towns for a wide range of water quality infrastructure projects. This low-cost financing enables local governments to access loans with significantly lower interest rates (1.7 percent on average) for their sewer infrastructure projects than the market rate (3.7 percent). These low-interest loans make it easier and more affordable for states to undertake major sewer infrastructure projects, Schumer said.