Illinois secures $94 million WIFIA loan to modernize wastewater infrastructure in Village of New Lenox
(WO) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a $94 million Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) loan to the Village of New Lenox in northeastern Illinois.
The community in New Lenox is growing and putting stress on the water infrastructure. EPA’s loan will help finance the construction of a modern wastewater system to meet the needs of over 33,000 community members.
Since 2018, EPA’s WIFIA program has announced nearly $20 billion in financing to support over $43 billion in water infrastructure projects that are strengthening drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure while creating over 140,000 jobs.
The Village of New Lenox’s New Water Resource Recovery Facility Project will modernize the local wastewater infrastructure to ensure it has capacity to accommodate for its growing population and protect local waterways, like the Jackson Branch stream, from pollution.
This funding will help pay for a new resource recovery facility, a new gravity sewer system, a pump station, and force main, which all work to move wastewater from one place to another. This will increase system resiliency, as the village is shifting from three outdated treatment plants to one modern plant.
Through this project, New Lenox will reduce operations and maintenance costs and lower energy consumption by about 30%. As a result of this project, New Lenox plans to decommission the existing wastewater facilities, and use the land to create public parks and green space.
WIFIA financing, combined with funding from the Illinois Water Pollution Control Loan Program, will allow the community to accelerate their replacement of aging infrastructure. The Village of New Lenox will save $22 million with EPA’s WIFIA loan while project construction and operation will create over 600 jobs.
“Wastewater treatment is a critical infrastructure service that is essential for the health and wellbeing of communities and important local waterways. EPA's low-cost loans have a track record of success. They save communities millions of dollars and create jobs while improving water infrastructure to help communities like New Lenox thrive,” said EPA Acting Assistant Administrator for Water Bruno Pigott.
Established by the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act of 2014, the WIFIA program is a federal loan program administered by EPA. The WIFIA program aims to accelerate investment in the nation’s water infrastructure by providing long-term, low-cost supplemental credit assistance for regionally and nationally significant projects. The WIFIA program has an active pipeline of pending applications for projects that will result in billions of dollars in water infrastructure investment and thousands of jobs.
Related News
From Archive
- Tunnel boring machine ‘Clack-A-Mole’ nears one-third completion in Oregon outfall project
- Lynchburg, Va., breaks ground on largest-ever Blackwater CSO tunnel project
- Texas A&M weighs underground transit plan with Elon Musk's Boring Co. to reduce campus traffic
- Wyo-Ben’s Max Gel, Max Bore HDD system boost drilling efficiency, performance
- Federal court halts permits for 32-mile Tennessee gas pipeline project
- Wisconsin proposes new PFAS drinking water standards to align with federal rules
- Elgin, Ill., joins EPA drinking water initiative to accelerate lead pipe replacement
- Dog River pipeline replacement in Oregon improves water supply with new HDPE pipe
- Leaking wastewater systems named top source of San Diego River contamination, study finds
- New Portable Welding System From Miller
Comments