Rockdale awarded $27 million for new water pollution control plant

Rockdale County has been awarded a $27 million Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) loan by the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority (GEFA) to finance the construction of a new water pollution control plant.

The construction of the new plant is set to begin in the first quarter of 2019 and expected to be completed within 18-24 months, county officials said.

The construction of the 3 million-gallon-per-day water pollution control plant will replace an outdated 450,000 gallon-per-day treatment plant and increase the county’s overall wastewater treatment capacity by 2.55 million gallons. The county will pay 1.89 percent interest on the 20-year loan.

“With this loan, Rockdale is better positioned to satisfy the wastewater treatment needs of its current residents and business owners as well as be perfectly positioned to accommodate the wastewater treatment needs of future residents and businesses in the community,” said Rockdale County Board of Commissioners Chairman Oz Nesbitt, Sr.. “This sets us up for better economic growth by being able to further improve Rockdale County’s award winning stewardship of its water resources.”

The CWSRF, a federal loan program administered by GEFA, provides communities throughout Georgia with low-interest loans to fund wastewater infrastructure and water pollution control projects. The program is jointly funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the state of Georgia. Eligible projects include a variety of stormwater and wastewater collection and treatment projects. These projects conserve and improve water resources and facilitate economic growth and development.

“The federal water and sewer programs administered by GEFA assist local governments with improving their environmental infrastructure. Through the Clean Water program, affordable financing helps cities and counties improve water quality,” said GEFA Executive Director Kevin Clark.