EPA To Loan Record $1.6 Billion To Wastewater Project

In a record-setting decision that will create Sacramento County’s largest public works project ever, the EPA recently announced that it is providing a $1.6 billion loan for a wastewater project.

“The record $1.6 billion in low interest loans for the EchoWater Project from the Clean Water State Revolving Fund will save ratepayers at least a half billion dollars during the life of the loan compared to traditional bond funding,” the agency announced.

According to the agency, this fund usually provides around $5 billion annually for wastewater projects, nonpoint source pollution control, and watershed and estuary management. Over the last 25 years, it has provided over $100 billion in funding through this program, doling out more than 33,320 low-interest loans.

In May, construction workers broke ground on the EchoWater project, an expansion of the Sacramento Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant. The plant currently “serves more than 416,000 homes and businesses in Sacramento County and West Sacramento,” The Sacramento Bee reported.

The goal is to reduce ammonia discharges from the wastewater operation. The county's current sewage plant dates back to 1982, and regulators decided six years ago that the plant is releasing too much ammonia, nitrates, and other contaminants into the Sacramento River, KCRA reported

It has already been a long haul for EchoWater, which will not be completed until 2023. Officials contended with “years of litigation and resistance by local agencies over the cost and requirements imposed by state regulators,” The Bee reported.

"The sewage treatment plant project is expected to be twice as expensive as the new passenger terminal at the Sacramento International Airport and more than four times the cost of the future downtown arena," the KCRA report said.

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