OKLAHOMA CITY – The Norman Utilities Authority (Authority) received approval for a $830,000 loan Tuesday from the Oklahoma Water Resources Board (OWRB) to conduct an emerging contaminant assessment. This process will be financed by a 100% principal forgiveness loan through the Oklahoma Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF).
The Authority operates a wastewater treatment facility with anaerobic digestion of waste sludge and a yard waste recycling program. The Authority wants to better understand where contaminants of emerging concern end up within their process. These proceeds will be used to conduct a study for contaminants of emerging concern from land application sites. This study will consist of a 12-month sampling and testing to determine if co-composting will remove contaminants from the wastewater. With the Authority having multiple land application sites, this has the potential to reduce contaminants at the Canadian River and Bishop Creek.
Joe Freeman, chief of the OWRB’s Financial Assistance Division, calculated that the Authority’s customers will save an estimated $1,066,300 compared to traditional financing.
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 $2.6 billion in water quality 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 $6.9 billion in loans and grants for water and wastewater infrastructure improvements throughout Oklahoma.
“We are grateful to State Legislators from the Norman area for their continued support of our financial assistance programs,” said Julie Cunningham, Executive Director of the OWRB.
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Contact:
Joe Freeman
Oklahoma Water Resources Board
(405) 530-8800
Joe.Freeman@owrb.ok.gov
