Creek County Rural Water District No. 2 receives $15,000,000 water system funding from OWRB

OKLAHOMA CITY – The Creek County Rural Water District No. 2 (District) received approval for $15,000,000 in funding Tuesday from the Oklahoma Water Resources Board (OWRB) to improve the District’s Water infrastructure.  Construction of upgrades and improvements to the water system will be financed by the Oklahoma Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) where $1,000,000 of the loan will be in the form of loan forgiveness. 

The district will utilize the proceeds for construction of a 750,000-gallon elevated water storage tank, a duplex booster pump station, approximately 12 miles of 12-inch distribution water line, approximately ½ mile of 10-inch distribution water line, approximately 4 miles of 12-inch transmission water line between the elevated storage tank and the booster pump station, and 10 leak detection flow meters. These improvements will reduce water loss and improve pressures in the distribution system to residents and businesses in and near the district.   

Joe Freeman, chief of the OWRB’s Financial Assistance Division, calculated that the district’s customers will save an estimated $4,639,900 over the life of the 30-year loan compared to traditional financing.  The DWSRF loan will be secured with a lien on the revenues of the district’s water system.

A Creek County Rural Water District No. 2 representative stated, “We would like to thank the Board of Directors in advance for considering our loan application. The favorable financing terms and the projected $1,000,000 in principal forgiveness make this project doable for the district. We very much appreciate your assistance.”   

The DWSRF program is administered by the OWRB and the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality (ODEQ) with partial funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  The DWSRF program has provided approximately $2.0 billion in drinking water loans to provide communities 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 $6.2 billion in loans and grants for water and wastewater infrastructure improvements throughout Oklahoma.   

Julie Cunningham, Executive Director of the OWRB, and Scott Thompson, Executive Director of the ODEQ, express their sincere appreciation to State Senator Cody Rogers and State Representative Mark Tedford for their support of the DWSRF program.   

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Contacts: 
Joe Freeman 
Oklahoma Water Resources Board 
(405) 530-8800 
Joe.Freeman@owrb.ok.gov   

Eddie Rhandour 
Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality 
(405) 702-8100 
Eddie.Rhandour@deq.ok.gov