Oklahoma City Water Utilities Trust Receives $21,930,141 Wastewater System Loan from the OWRB
OKLAHOMA CITY – The Oklahoma City Water Utilities Trust (Trust) received approval for a $21,930,141 loan on Tuesday from the Oklahoma Water Resources Board (OWRB) to improve the Trust’s wastewater infrastructure. Construction of upgrades and improvements to the wastewater system will be financed by the Oklahoma Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF).
The Authority operates two water treatment plants, multiple storage tanks, a broad water distribution network, and four wastewater treatment plants with an extensive sewer collection system. To strengthen reliability and protect local water quality, the Authority is advancing a series of infrastructure upgrades across its service area. These improvements include replacing an aging chlorine disinfection process at the North Canadian wastewater treatment plant with a safer, modern sodium hypochlorite system, and rehabilitating several miles of deteriorated sewer mains and manholes in neighborhoods such as Heritage Hills, the Paseo area, and the Bishop McGuinness School campus. Additional projects along key corridors, including sections of Interstate 44, will realign or replace sewer lines to reduce the risk of failures and address odor and maintenance challenges caused by aging infrastructure. Collectively, these upgrades will enhance system performance, reduce service disruptions, and support long-term wastewater reliability for the community.
Lori Johnson, chief of the OWRB’s Financial Assistance Division, calculated that the Trust’s customers will save an estimated $16,524,500 when compared to traditional financing. The CWSRF loan will be secured with a lien on the revenues of their water, sewer, and sanitation services.
Oklahoma City Water Utilities Trust’s officials attending the OWRB’s monthly meeting in support of the loan application included Assistant Director Josh Morgan; Deputy Director of Utilities, Engineering Jared McLaughlin; Deputy Director of Utilities, Financial Services Vanessa Aguilar; and Senior Financial Services Manager Constance Littleton. “I would like to thank you for the consideration of this loan we have in front of you today,” said Morgan. “With the bigger picture, we really want to thank you for the partnership that OCWUT has with the OWRB. It really enables us to continue to provide both a highly reliable, yet affordable service for our customers, so we appreciate that. As mentioned, there are seven projects associated with this loan, six of them are rehabilitation or relocation projects for our sewer lines and then the North Canadian Wastewater Treatment Plant project is really a monumental project because that allows us to fully move away from using chlorine gas as a disinfection chemical. This is important for two reasons; one chlorine gas is probably the most dangerous chemical that we use in the treatment process, it’s also one of the most costly. This allows us to move completely away from that, protecting public safety and coming back to that affordable service, which we know is important to all of our customers.”
“This project is a significant investment in protecting water quality, while also ensuring safe and reliable wastewater services,” said Senator Jack Stewart, R-Yukon. “This $21,930,141 investment will ensure residents are protected with a high-quality system that will continue to serve Oklahomans for generations to come. I want to thank the Oklahoma Water Resources Board and our local partners for making this significant improvement project possible.”
“Ensuring the infrastructure for wastewater systems are receiving appropriate upgrades is essential for both service and water quality in the Oklahoma City metro,” said Sen. Mark Mann, D-Oklahoma City. “I appreciate the Oklahoma Water Resources Board for their approval of the CWSRF loan so this critical project can move forward.”
“We are grateful to the State Legislators representing the OKC-metro area for their continued support of water and wastewater infrastructure funding in Oklahoma,” said Julie Cunningham, OWRB Executive Director.
The CWSRF program is administered by the Oklahoma Water Resources Board with partial funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The CWSRF program has provided approximately $2.9 billion in water quality loans to provide communities with the resources necessary to maintain and improve the infrastructure that protects our valuable water resources statewide.
Since 1983, the Oklahoma Water Resources Board has approved over $8.6 billion in loans and grants for water and wastewater infrastructure improvements throughout Oklahoma.
Established in 1957, the Oklahoma Water Resources Board (OWRB) serves as the state’s water resources planning and development agency. A nine-member Board oversees the OWRB, with members appointed by the Governor to represent nine geographic regions and water-use sectors. The OWRB is committed to managing, protecting, and improving Oklahoma’s water resources to meet long-term water supply, water quality, flood mitigation, and infrastructure needs. For more information, visit Oklahoma.gov/owrb.
