MDC's Clean Water Project to Receive $258 Million in State Grants, Loans

The Metropolitan District Commission, which serves Windsor, is expected to receive $258 million in state grants and loans for its Clean Water Project when the State Bond Commission meets on Friday.

The funds are part of a major package of $480 million in grants and loans to protect the state’s water quality by financing local projects aimed at improving wastewater treatment plants and sanitary sewer systems, announced by Governor Dannel P. Malloy on Thursday.

The $258 million will go toward the MDC’s next phase of a 20-year investment in modernizing the sanitary sewer system in the Greater Hartford area. This includes separating out the flow of storm water from sanitary sewers in order to reduce overflows of raw sewage from the sewer system and into the Connecticut River.

The package for the MDC includes $80 million in grants and $178 million in loans. These funds will finance the next phase of work on the MDC’s Clean Water Project which include improvements at the Hartford treatment plant, rehabilitation of the sanitary sewers in the Greater Hartford area and the design of a 98 million gallon tunnel to store wastewater during rain storms.

“Connecticut must continue to be a leader in providing financial support for the efforts of our cities, towns, and regional authorities to modernize and improve wastewater treatment plants and sanitary sewer systems in order to protect the quality of our rivers, streams, and Long Island Sound, as well as the health of our residents,” Malloy said in a press release. “The aid package will keep us moving in that direction, as well as providing more than 10,000 attractive jobs in manufacturing, engineering, and construction.”

The package before the Bond Commission will make it possible for the state’s Clean Water Fund (CWF) to provide $110 million in grants and $370 million in loans to local and regional wastewater improvement projects. Under this program, grants range from 20 to 50 percent of costs depending upon the nature of the project and loans are repaid at just two percent interest over 20 years.

Other projects to be supported by funds approved for release by the Bond Commission include:

• Bristol Wastewater Treatment Plant: $19 million for plant upgrades, including improving the capacity to remove phosphorous from wastewater in order to protect the quality of the Pequabuck River, where it is discharged. The package includes $9.5 million in grants and $9.5 million in loans.
• Norwich Wastewater Treatment Plant: $100 million for improvements to the plant, which includes upgrades to aging infrastructure and for nitrogen removal. The package includes $20 million in grants and $80 million in loans.
• Additional Projects in Communities Across the State: $103 million for variety of purposes, such as planning studies, engineering designs, small community projects, pump station rehabilitation, green infrastructure projects, and projects to compensate for sea level rise.

“By working closely with cities and towns, the state of Connecticut has made great progress in building and improving the capacity of our local sewer systems,” Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) Commissioner Robert Klee said in the press release. “As a result, our rivers and streams are cleaner and we have reduced the flow of nitrogen, phosphorous, and other pollutants into Long Island Sound. The funding before the Bond Commission will ensure that this important work will continue.”

The Bond Commission package will authorize:

• $110 million in General Obligation Bonds, used to provide grant money for projects;
• $370 million in Revenue Bonds, used to provide low interest loans for these projects from a revolving fund.