Wastewater Construction Loans Awarded

Nashville, Tenn. – Governor Phil Bredesen has announced that seven communities will receive low-interest loans totaling nearly $40 million through the State Revolving Fund (SRF) Loan Program to fund much-needed wastewater construction projects. The Department of Environment and Conservation administers the SRF Loan Program for the State of Tennessee.

SRF loan recipients, whose loan amounts and projects are detailed below, include the cities of Chattanooga, Clarksburg, Decatur, Kingsport, Lafayette, LaFollette, and Morristown, Tennessee.

“I am always pleased to see local governments accessing this important program,” said Environment and Conservation Commissioner Jim Fyke. “Community investments in our wastewater systems are vital to maintaining environmental and public health. These loans will help keep our communities moving forward.”

The SRF Loan Program provides low-interest loans that help communities, utility districts, and water and wastewater authorities finance projects that protect Tennessee’s ground and surface waters and public health. Loans are used to finance the planning, design, and construction of water and wastewater facilities. Through this program, communities, utility districts and water and wastewater authorities can obtain loans with lower interest rates than most can obtain through private financing. Interest rates for the loans can vary from zero percent to market rate based on each community’s economic index.

The funding order of projects is determined by the SRF Loan Program’s Priority Ranking Lists that rank potential projects according to the severity of their pollution and/or compliance problems or for the protection of public health. Environment and Conservation administers the SRF Loan Program in conjunction with the Tennessee Local Development Authority. Through 2006, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency provided seed money for the SRF Loan Program, and the state provided matching funds.

SRF Wastewater Loans were announced today for the following recipients:

• Chattanooga, Hamilton County – A $13 million, 20-year loan with an interest rate of 2.79% for wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) improvements to the Moccasin Bend WWTP’s oxygen generation system and combined sewer overflow (CSO) correction in the M. L. King Blvd./Warner Park/Engel Stadium area. Improvements will consist of the construction of a 1.6 million gallon underground storage facility, three surface detention facilities, and two new 36-inch diameter parallel interceptors and appurtenances to upgrade the collection system.
• Clarksburg, Carroll County – An $118,800, 20-year loan with an interest rate of 1.65% for the construction of a collection system extension along the area of State Routes 22 and 424.
• Decatur, Meigs County – A $1 million, 20-year loan with an interest rate of 1.19% for a sewer collection system expansion in the Jackson Street/Memorial Drive/New State Route 30 area.
• Kingsport, Sullivan County – A $2.85 million, 20-year loan with an interest rate of 3.20% for an infiltration and inflow correction project, which consists of the rehabilitation of approximately 33,800 linear feet of existing sanitary sewer lines and associated manholes in the Ridgefields and West Kingsport Areas.
• LaFayette, Macon County – A $4 million, 20-year loan with an interest rate of 1.61% for an infiltration and inflow correction project that includes smoke testing, closed circuit television inspection, manhole repairs or replacements, sewer line point repairs and replacements, replacement of existing leaking septic tanks with water tight tanks, and grinder pump replacement.
• LaFollette, Campbell County – A $6.5 million, 20-year loan with an interest rate of 0.80% for wastewater treatment plant improvements including construction of a new screening unit, a membrane filtration unit, and an ultraviolet (UV) disinfection unit and the rehabilitation, conversion, and upgrading of additional units at the plant.
• Morristown, Hamblen County – A $12.5 million, 20-year loan with an interest rate of 2.06% for collection system investigative work, sewer rehabilitation, and site work at the existing wastewater treatment plant. The collection system investigative work includes flow monitoring, smoke testing, and manhole inspections.

Since its inception in 1987, Tennessee’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund Loan Program has awarded more than $840 million in low-interest loans.

Any local government interested in the SRF Loan Program should contact the State Revolving Fund Loan Program, 8th Floor, L&C Tower, 401 Church Street, Nashville, TN 37243, or call (615) 532-0445. Information about SRF Loan Program may be found online at www.tdec.net/srf.