service line. The utility worked with the Arkansas CWSRF program to ensure that the funding source was adaptable enough to work for homeowners. Because CWSRF funds were loaned to the utility, the reimbursement structure allowed individual homeowners, who are not usually eligible for Arkansas CWSRF assistance, to benefit from the low-interest loan program. Each homeowner is responsible for contracting for the work, ensuring that the CWSRF and the utility do not face the liability of entering a homeowner’s property to replace the lines. This project makes use of new CWSRF project eligibilities, allowing the CWSRF to directly assist homeowners with shouldering the burden of replacing the service line from their home to the utility sewer collection system, an activity that was not previously eligible in the CWSRF. NVF Yorklyn Site Wetland Project — The first of its kind in Dela- ware, this brownfield-to-wetlands conversion project will use natural systems to remediate water bodies impaired by decades of industrial ac- tivity. The loan will be repaid from Hazardous Substances Control Act (HSCA) tax revenues and is secured by a revenue pledge in the form of a Master-Lease Purchase Agreement with the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) as the lessee and the CWSRF as the lessor. A memorandum of understanding between the parties gives DNREC the right to withhold HSCA tax revenues to pay annual CWSRF lease payments. This lease-purchase financ- ing structure allows the Division of Waste & Hazardous Substances (WHS) to borrow from the CWSRF without obligating the state to any indebtedness associated with a traditional loan agreement. In addition, the overall project involves a cooperative partnership between mul- tiple state agencies (DNREC-CWSRF, DNREC-WHS, DNREC-Parks and Recreation), the federal government (EPA-Brownfields), and the private sector. The Delaware CWSRF provided $3.3 million in financing to create two acres of wetlands by replacing 29,000 tons of zinc-contaminated soil with clean fill material and topsoil. The wetlands will improve water quality, store stormwater to mitigate flooding, help flush the remaining zinc-impacted groundwater to the recovery trench, and sup- port economic redevelopment of the Fiber Mills District in Yorklyn. An additional $1 million loan will create a series of wetlands around the project site to protect residents and buildings from flooding and runoff. Without the financing and spirit of partnership made possible by the Delaware CWSRF, the remediation of the site was estimated to take another 40 years and cost an additional $10.7 million. Howard Storage Basin-North Hill Separation Project — The City of Akron, Ohio received a financing package from Ohio EPA’s Water Pollution Control Loan Fund (WPCLF) program to construct a 2.4 mil- lion-gallon concrete storage basin to reduce combined sewer overflows (CSOs) into the Little Cuyahoga River. Akron will borrow $22 million ($13 million at the special 0 percent rate for CSO projects) at an overall blended interest rate of 0.93 percent. In addition to the rate, other terms of the assistance package demonstrate the flexibility of the CWSRF to enable communities such as Akron make these projects a reality. This is the first CWSRF customer to receive 45-year term financing, which Ohio worked with U.S. EPA to approve in 2017. In total, this financing package will save Akron approximately $16.9 million compared with
RIAC Glycol Recovery System in Rhode Island
financing this project at the market rate of 3.68 percent. To eliminate any fees or the additional costs of a bonding agent, the WPCLF pur- chased a bond from Akron and financed a portion of the project costs for the extended term. The Howard Storage Basin will hold excess flows during periods of high rainfall and release the combined sewage to the sewer system when flows have dropped. Designed to contain the “typical year” event without allowing any overflows to the river, this project will dramati- cally enhance water quality in the Little Cuyahoga River. The basin project is also sponsoring three Water Resources Restoration and Pro- tection (WRRSP) projects — a land purchase, a wetland restoration, and a dam removal — which will discount the entire loan package an additional 0.1 percent.
Regional Onsite Sewage System Loan Program inWashington
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february 2018
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