Jessica Preston, a waste water operator, performs a slug test at the City of Lima Wastewater Treatment Plant in Sept. 2016. The Ohio Water Development Authority has given the City of Lima a loan of nearly $6 million for improvements at the plant.
File photo | The Lima News
LIMA — The Ohio Water Development Authority is granting the City of Lima $5,820,300 for the improvement of the wastewater treatment plant. The loan will be at an interest rate of 3.2% over the next 20 years of development.
“The low borrowing rates allow local government to construct necessary water and sewer improvements while minimizing the impact to user charges,” said Lisa Haid, Human Resources of OWDA.
According to the press release, the funding will replace the nitrification tower media, piping improvements and aeration tank improvements. In the State of Ohio, the OWDA has awarded $9.1 million to local communities.
OWDA identifies its mission statement as a means to provide financial assistance for environmental infrastructure from the sale of municipal revenue bonds through loans to local governments in Ohio and from the issuance of industrial revenue bonds for qualified projects in Ohio.
The OWDA has not only approved loans for projects in the City of Lima but towns across Ohio.
The hope is to continue to improve and maintain the quality of the systems.
Utility Director for the City of Lima, Michael Caprella, weighed in.
”The project entails a lot of repairs,” said Caprella. “A lot of concrete work. We are going to upgrade the wastewater treatment plant here in Lima. We got a nitrification tower that is a part of the treatment process, we are replacing the rotating arms on that. All the repairs together will come out to a little over $5 million dollars. We will start this work maybe even by the end of this year.”
Once it begins, Caprella said the project will take about a year and a half to complete.
“During the process, we have to keep the plant operating,” added Caprella. “We will do one section and then isolate the other part. The key is the plant has to stay operating throughout the whole process. That will make it last a little longer.”
Reach Precious Grundy at 567-242-0351.
