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ALACHUA – The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) recently
awarded $10 million to the City of Alachua for wastewater management. The funds, part
of DEP’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) Program, will help replace the 30
year old wastewater treatment plant with an improved technology to better remove nutrients.
The project will also help reduce water withdrawal from the Floridan Aquifer by increasing
the volume of reclaimed water available for irrigation and other uses.
The funds awarded to Alachua are part of the approximately $212 million awarded to
Florida from the federal 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 CWSRF as well as the Drinking Water
State Revolving Fund (DWSRF).
“In order to protect water quality and public health for our citizens, it is essential
that we invest in our wastewater, stormwater and drinking water infrastructure. The stimulus
funds advance our ongoing efforts to provide needed funding for infrastructure to local
communities,” said DEP Secretary Michael W. Sole. “We have had a tremendous demand for this ARRA funding, which will help build valuable public projects.”
Alachua was one of the communities recently approved to receive these funds under DEP’s
CWSRF and DWSRF loan programs. 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 CWSRF and DWSRF ARRA
funding. There is $15 million in drinking water funds remaining 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 U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, 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 stormwater 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 funding, visit:
www.dep.state.fl.us/secretary/news/2009/05/0522_02.htm.
For more information about Florida’s use of the federal recovery dollars made available
through the ARRA of 2009, please visit
www.FlaRecovery.com.
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2010 State of Florida