Biden-Harris Administration Announces $94M WIFIA Loan To Upgrade Wastewater Infrastructure In New Lenox, IL

Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a $94M 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 $20B in financing to support over $43B in water infrastructure projects that are strengthening drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure while creating over 140,000 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. “I’m proud that EPA is helping New Lenox increase their wastewater system’s capacity ensuring a dependable system for generations to come.”

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 This will increase system resiliency, as the village is shifting from three outdated treatment plants to one modern plant.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.

“The WIFIA loan program, and the great Staff that assists in the pursuit of the loan, have allowed the Village of New Lenox to reach the 'moon shot' of our strategic goals, rebuilding our entire sanitary system,” said Village Administrator Kurt Carroll.

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 $22M with EPA’s WIFIA loan while project construction and operation will create over 600 jobs.

Learn more about EPA’s WIFIA Program and water infrastructure investments under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

Background
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.

EPA made the seventh round of WIFIA financing available and is currently accepting letters of interest for WIFIA and SWIFIA loans. $6.5B is available through WIFIA, and $1B is available through SWIFIA, which is a loan program exclusively for State infrastructure financing authority borrowers. EPA is currently accepting letters of interest for WIFIA and SWIFIA loans. Learn more about submitting a letter of interest for a WIFIA loan.

In addition to WIFIA loans, there are many federal funding resources available for communities and utilities to improve vital water and wastewater resources. President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is a once-in-a-generation investment in our nation’s infrastructure and competitiveness. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provides a historic $50B investment in upgrading critical water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure.