U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a $94 million Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) loan to the Village of New Lenox in northeastern Illinois.
The community in New Lenox is growing and putting stress on the water infrastructure. EPA’s loan will help finance the construction of a modern wastewater system to meet the needs of over 33,000 community members.
Since 2018, EPA’s WIFIA program has announced nearly $20 billion in financing to support over $43 billion in water infrastructure projects that are strengthening drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure while creating more than 140,000 jobs.
“Wastewater treatment is a critical infrastructure service that is essential for the health and wellbeing of communities and important local waterways. EPA's low-cost loans have a track record of success. They save communities millions of dollars and create jobs while improving water infrastructure to help communities like New Lenox thrive,” said EPA Acting Assistant Administrator for Water Bruno Pigott. “I’m proud that EPA is helping New Lenox increase their wastewater system’s capacity ensuring a dependable system for generations to come.”
The Village of New Lenox’s New Water Resource Recovery Facility Project will modernize the local wastewater infrastructure to ensure it has capacity to accommodate for its growing population and protect local waterways, like the Jackson Branch stream, from pollution. This funding will help pay for a new resource recovery facility, a new gravity sewer system, a pump station, and force main, which all work to move wastewater from one place to another.
This will increase system resiliency, as the village is shifting from three outdated treatment plants to one modern plant. Through this project, New Lenox will reduce operations and maintenance costs and lower energy consumption by about 30%. As a result of this project, New Lenox plans to decommission the existing wastewater facilities, and use the land to create public parks and green space.
“The WIFIA loan program, and the great Staff that assists in the pursuit of the loan, have allowed the Village of New Lenox to reach the 'moon shot' of our strategic goals, rebuilding our entire sanitary system,” said Village Administrator Kurt Carroll.
WIFIA financing, combined with funding from the Illinois Water Pollution Control Loan Program, will allow the community to accelerate their replacement of aging infrastructure. The Village of New Lenox will save $22 million with EPA’s WIFIA loan while project construction and operation will create over 600 jobs.
