DEP announces Stimulus Disbursement for grand ridge Wastewater Facility
--Grand Ridge is among the first communities to receive Federal funding--
--Grand Ridge is among the first communities to receive Federal funding--
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) recently awarded $7.4 million to the town of Grand Ridge for wastewater management. The funds, part of DEP’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund Program, will go to the construction of a wastewater treatment facility and an effluent disposal facility.
The town of Grand Ridge has experienced health-related concerns due to the inability of the individual septic systems to discharge and absorb effluent, due to the poor soild types and high ground water levels. The project is being constructed in an effort to address these health concerns by eliminating the on-site septic systems. The removal of septic systems will reduce the amount of nutrients and pathogens that reach nearby surface waters of the town of Grand Ridge, including Ocheessee Pond, Finnely Lake, Shelfer Bay, Brushy Pond and Honey Hill Bay.
The funds awarded to the town of Grand Ridge are a part of the approximately $212 million awarded to Florida from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) to help local governments finance improvements to wastewater, stormwater and drinking water facilities essential to protecting public health and the environment across the state. Florida is one of the first states to have met all the requirements necessary to receive the full amount of ARRA funds to support both the Clean Water State Revolving Fund Program as well as the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund Program (SRF).
Grand Ridge was one of the 33 Florida communities recently approved to receive these funds under the DEP’s Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (SRF) loan programs. Added to ten communities approved earlier this year, there are now 48 projects in 43 Florida communities scheduled to receive ARRA money to help build critical drinking water, wastewater and stormwater infrastructure.
DEP has now committed $197 million of the $212 million in available ARRA funding, leaving $15 million in drinking water funds for applicants as they complete the planning, design and permitting necessary to begin construction. Qualifying drinking water projects will be selected for the remaining ARRA funds, based on their readiness and priority, at a future public hearing. DEP will also continue to work with all applicants to help them apply for other funding as it becomes available.
DEP received more than $800 million in requests for the $80 million of ARRA drinking water project funds and more than $1.5 billion in requests competing for $132.3 million in ARRA wastewater and stormwater funding.
DEP established its SRF programs, under agreements with the EPA, to provide low-interest financing to plan, design and build wastewater, stormwater and drinking water systems. Funded by federal capitalization grants, state matching funds, loan repayments, interest earnings, and periodic bond issues, SRF loans are offered at interest rates substantially below current market rates and help make loans affordable. Repayments from earlier loans are used to make new loans, allowing the program to operate in perpetuity.
Since 1999, DEP has invested more than $3.5 billion to upgrade and improve drinking water and wastewater facilities and clean up storm water pollution, funding close to 2,100 projects statewide. More than $2.6 billion of this amount has come from the SRF programs.
For more information on the State Revolving Funds, visit www.dep.state.fl.us/water/wff.
For complete list of communities scheduled to receive ARRA money:
For more information about Florida’s use of the federal recovery dollars made available through the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, please visit
www.FlaRecovery.com.
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