The Village of Bradner is making major improvements to its drinking water system. The project, funded with an interest-free loan from Ohio EPA, will increase the supply of well water and improve the water treatment process.
Specifically, the village will install two new water wells, add new and replacement feeder and electrical lines to the wells, add an eight-inch waterline from the feeder lines through the chemical feed building to the elevated storage tank, construct a new chemical feed building and add an auxiliary generator.
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 $1,303,853. The zero interest rate WSRLA financing will save Bradner an estimated $1,234,000 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 EPAs 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 EPAs 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: epa.ohio.gov/defa/EnvironmentalandFinancialAssistance.aspx.
