The New York State Environmental Facilities Corp. (EFC) has approved a low-cost financing package to improve the wastewater treatment and collection systems in the Cayuga County village of Union Springs. The EFC board of directors approved an interest-free loan worth more than $560,000, along with an additional three-year loan of a similar amount at […]
The New York State Environmental Facilities Corp. (EFC) has approved a low-cost financing package to improve the wastewater treatment and collection systems in the Cayuga County village of Union Springs.
The EFC board of directors approved an interest-free loan worth more than $560,000, along with an additional three-year loan of a similar amount at market rates for a total three-year financing package of more than $1.1 million, the agency said in a news release.
EFC is the arm of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration that provides low-cost financing to help local governments afford new wastewater and drinking-water infrastructure.
EFC helps communities like Union Springs afford water-quality projects at interest rates that aren’t available to smaller communities, Matthew Driscoll, president and CEO of EFC, said in the news release.
“We use our Triple-A credit rating and with more than $13 billion in assets to operate the largest revolving-loan fund in the country and help local governments in New York state to protect public health, improve the environment, and create the infrastructure necessary for economic growth,” Driscoll said.
Driscoll is a former mayor of the city of Syracuse.
Union Springs plans to install new pumps and make improvements to the grit-removal and coarse-solids handling systems in the village’s wastewater-treatment plant. Crews will also line about 4,000 linear feet of gravity sewer to prevent water from infiltrating the wastewater-collection system, according to EFC.
A gravity-sewer system is used to collect wastewater from multiple sources, which then uses gravity to convey the wastewater to a central location, according to the Water Environment Research Foundation, an Alexandria, Va.–based scientific-research organization that focuses on stormwater and wastewater issues.
Union Springs will also install flow meters on existing sewer lines at three locations.
The project won’t increase the size of the present sewer system or treatment plant, EFC said. Once the work is finished in 2015, it is anticipated that EFC will refinance the short-term loans with a 30-year financing package, the agency said.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com