U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt and Gov. Eric Holcomb announced Thursday the state will receive $436 million loan to improve drinking water and wastewater treatment projects.
"This is another shining example of local, state and federal government coming together. We’ll put $436 million in new federal funds to good use in communities around the state to improve aging water infrastructure. Water is one of the pillars of our diversified economy.”
Pruitt said, the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) program received $63 million in funding this year from Congress and President Donald Trump.
"This more than doubles the program’s funding from 2017. Leveraging private capital and other federal and state funding sources, projects funded through WIFIA loans could support up to $11 billion in water infrastructure investment and create more than 170,000 jobs."
He said the program will protect public health by reducing exposure to lead and other contaminants in drinking water systems and updating the nation’s aging infrastructure.
Included, is $19.3 million in improvements to the City of Crown Point's water storage, pumping, chlorination and supply lines.
There will be repairs to all of the city's elevated steel storage tanks and its concrete storage tanks as well as adding redundant tanks and replacement of undersized water lines and redundant lines will be added to improve service to newer outlying areas.
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