September 20, 2005

Department of Environmental Quality Director Steven E. Chester has announced seven new loan commitments from the Clean Water State Revolving Fund and six from the Drinking Water Revolving Fund. The SRF provides low-interest financing for local units of government to make needed improvements to wastewater collection and treatment facilities, while assistance from the DWRF finances improvements to public drinking water systems. The thirteen loans announced today total nearly $150 million.

“We continue to make unprecedented progress in protecting and enhancing Michigan’s water resources,” said Director Chester. “These projects not only create needed infrastructure improvements, but also stimulate construction activity and represent a real investment in Michigan’s environmental and economic future.”

The funded SRF projects include:

• $1,620,000 in assistance to the George W. Kuhn Drainage District in
  Oakland County to complete work to abate the effects of combined
  sewer overflows to the Clinton River from the Twelve Towns area. Over
  $100 million in SRF assistance has now been tendered to this project.

• A $72,895,000 loan to Dearborn to construct retention/treatment
  facilities to address combined sewer overflows to the Rouge River.

• A loan of $15,505,000 to Genesee County for the second of four
  projects to provide interceptor relief for the sewer systems tributary to
  the Anthony Ragnone Wastewater Treatment Plant. The system
  serves 24 communities in Genesee, Saginaw, and Shiawassee
  counties. The relief sewers will eliminate sanitary sewer overflows
  currently occurring during wet weather.

• $4,680,000 in loan assistance to Wayne County to finance the first in a
  series of upgrades at the Wyandotte Wastewater Treatment Plant,
  which serves 13 communities in the downriver area.

• A loan of $3,415,000 to the city of Saginaw. The loan finances the first
  part of a three-segment project that will upgrade the city’s wastewater
  treatment facility.

• $17,500,000 in financing to Muskegon County to rehabilitate and
  replace pump stations in the collection system tributary to the county’s
  wastewater management system which serves 13 Muskegon County
  communities.

• $2,040,000 in loan assistance to the city of Adrian for system
  improvements to eliminate wet weather induced overflows of sanitary
  sewage to the River Raisin.

Today’s commitments bring SRF financing awarded to Michigan communities to date to over $2.25 billion. These projects are further examples of the commitments being made by local units of government in Michigan to ensure protection of the state’s valuable water resources and the public health of its citizens.

The funded DWRF projects include:

• $1,780,000 to the village of Caro to upgrade its supply wells and
  provide facilities that will enable the village to meet new drinking
  water standards which establish lower acceptable levels of arsenic
  in public water supplies.

• A $2,500,000 loan to Marine City for the construction of improvements
  to its water treatment plant.

• $690,000 in loan assistance to Sanilac County to upgrade the drinking
  water treatment capabilities in the village of Carsonville for the removal
  of arsenic.

• Two loans totaling $25,975,000 to the city of Detroit to construct
  improvements at the Lake Huron Water Treatment Plant and replace
  deteriorated water mains within the city that have reached the end of
  their useful life.

• $850,000 to Shiawassee County on behalf of the village of Byron. The
  funds will be used for upgrades to the village’s drinking water system,
  including storage improvements, new water mains to complete looping,
  and additional treatment capabilities for the removal of arsenic.

The improvements financed by these loans will ensure compliance with the requirements of the Safe Drinking Water Act and protect the public health of system users in these communities. Since the inception of Michigan’s DWRF program in 1998, over $380 million in assistance has been tendered.

Program interest rates will remain well below open market rates, with Fiscal Year 2006 rates remaining at 1.625 percent in the SRF and 2.125 percent in the DWRF.

Editor’s note: DEQ news releases are available on the department’s Internet home page at www.michigan.gov/deq.

“Protecting Michigan’s Environment, Ensuring Michigan’s Future”

Revised September 20, 2005 by Pat Watson