WASHINGTON, DC, NOV 13, 2018 -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recognized 30 clean water infrastructure projects for excellence and innovation within the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) program. Honored projects include large wastewater infrastructure projects to small decentralized and agriculture projects.
"The Clean Water State Revolving Fund plays an integral role in advancing the President's infrastructure agenda, providing communities with low-interest loans so that they can modernize aging infrastructure, create local jobs, and better protect public health and the environment," said EPA Office of Water Assistant Administrator Dave Ross. "The scale and complexity of the 2018 PISCES recognized projects represent the determination, coordination, and creativity our partners put forth to achieve their water quality goals."
The CWSRF is a federal EPA-state partnership that provides communities a permanent, independent source of low-cost financing for a wide range of water quality infrastructure projects. Over the past 31 years, CWSRF programs have provided more than $132 billion in financing for water quality infrastructure.
EPA's Performance and Innovation in the SRF Creating Environmental Success (PISCES) program celebrates innovation demonstrated by CWSRF programs and assistance recipients. Thirty projects by state or local governments, public utilities, and private entities were recognized by the 2018 PISCES program:
• Delaware: City of Wilmington - Renewable Energy and Biosolids Facility
The City of Wilmington's wastewater treatment facility received a $36 million CWSRF loan to construct a renewable energy and biosolids facility for its treatment plant. This new facility captures previously flared methane gas from the plant's anaerobic digester and gas from a nearby landfill and uses it to generate four megawatts of electricity.
• Kansas: Dodge City Biogas Reuse to Motor Fuel Project
The Dodge City South Wastewater Treatment Plant developed a reuse project to clean and pressurize its excess biogas into a high-quality natural gas that can be sold on the market as motor vehicle fuel. The methane fuel produced is expected to have an annual production amount equivalent to 3.5 million gallons of gasoline.
• New Jersey: South Monmouth Regional Sewerage Authority - Pump Station Resiliency Initiative
Along with FEMA assistance, CWSRF funds were used to build three resilient pump stations that service several coastal communities that have recently experienced extreme weather events. Two of these pump stations are fully operational mobile units that can be disconnected during a severe storm and hauled to a safe location and the third pump station replaced an older station that was in a 100-year flood zone.
A full list of the 2018 PISCES recognized projects is available at https://www.epa.gov/cwsrf/pisces.
