The Lawton Water Authority receives $25,000,000 wastewater system loan from OWRB
OKLAHOMA CITY –The Lawton Water Authority (Authority) received approval for a $25,000,000 loan Tuesday from the Oklahoma Water Resources Board (OWRB) to improve the Authority’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 owns and operates a wastewater treatment plant and collection system consisting of approximately 500 miles of lines and five lift stations. The Authority is implementing a system-wide rehabilitation and replacement program for the wastewater collection system, prioritizing lines with increased sanitary sewer overflows (SSO’s) and backups causing frequent disruptions in the collection system or one’s made from obsolet materials. This project will include replacement of approximately 78,000 feet of sewer lines by cured-in-place-pipe or pipe bursting along with manholes and service lines and total replacement of the lift station. This project will help protect the local watershed from future degradation by reducing the frequency of SSO’s.
Joe Freeman, chief of the OWRB’s Financial Assistance Division, calculated that the Authority’s customers will save an estimated $6,071,600 over the life of the 30-year loan compared to traditional financing. The CWSRF loan will be secured with a lien on the revenues of the Authority’s water, sewer and sanitation. The Lawton Water Authority’s official who attended the OWRB’s monthly meeting in support of the loan application was Rusty Whisenhunt, Director of Field Utilities, who stated “Thank you for the opportunity in the continuance of our sewer plant rehabilitation which will improve Lawton’s infrastructure.”
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 $2.7 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 $7.4 billion in loans and grants for water and wastewater infrastructure improvements throughout Oklahoma.
“We are grateful to Oklahoma Legislators from the Lawton 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
