Oklahoma City Water Utilities Trust receives $2,225,000 water system funding from OWRB

OKLAHOMA CITY – The Oklahoma City Water Utilities Trust (Trust) received approval for $2,225,000 in funding Tuesday from the Oklahoma Water Resources Board (OWRB).   

The Trust will utilize the proceeds for the development of their water system’s lead service line inventory and mapping of the lead service lines. Lead service line inventories are a requirement by the revised EPA Lead and Copper Rule, passed in December 2021, to meet public health goals for drinking water systems. Deadline to submit those inventories is October 16, 2024, to the Department of Environmental Quality.   

Joe Freeman, chief of the OWRB’s Financial Assistance Division, calculated that the Authority’s customers will save an estimated $734,250 through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) Lead Service Line Replacement Program. The DWSRF loan will be secured with a lien on the revenues of the Trust’s water, sewer, and sanitation systems. General Manager of the Trust, Chris Browning, Business Manager, Vanessa Aguilar, and Jiffie John Samuel, Financial Operations Manager, attended the OWRB’s monthly meeting in support of the loan application.

Mr. Browning stated, “We recognize that lead lines are a top priority across the nation. These funds will be used for a pilot project to verify the Trust’s assumption of piping material used on both sides of meters in approximately 2,700 locations. The target for inventory completion is set for 2024.”       

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 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. 

“We are grateful to State Legislators from the Oklahoma City metro area for their continued support of our financial assistance programs,” said Julie Cunningham, Executive Director of the OWRB. 

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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