News Update
EPA awards Miami-Dade loan for wastewater upgrades
Staff report
Enviro-Net
On June 4, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced a $326 million Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act loan to Miami-Dade County to help finance the design and construction of upgrades to three wastewater treatment plants.
The new loan represents EPA’s second investment in Miami-Dade’s continuing efforts under the Ocean Outfall Legislation Program to reduce nutrient discharges by 2018, eliminate the use of ocean outfalls by 2025, and reuse 60 percent of wastewater flows by 2025.
The new WIFIA loan will help finance the Wastewater Treatment Plant Electrical Distribution Building Upgrade, which will design and construct five new electrical distribution buildings across the county's three wastewater treatment plants. Two of the new electrical distribution buildings are part of the Ocean Outfall Legislation Program.
The project will construct new electrical facilities that enable the wastewater treatment plants to operate continuously during storm events and minimize the risk of potential untreated wastewater discharges to the ocean. This builds on a prior WIFIA loan to Miami-Dade County that helped finance deep injection wells at the county’s three wastewater treatment plants.
The Wastewater Treatment Plant Electrical Distribution Building Upgrade project will cost $660 million. EPA’s WIFIA loan will finance nearly half of that figure—up to $326 million.
Additionally, the project will be financed by Florida’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund and bonds. The WIFIA loan will save the county an estimated $103 million compared to typical bond financing. Project construction and operation are expected to create more than 260 direct jobs.
Source: U.S. EPA