Town Gets 0 % State Loan

Westborough will save $11.4 million total on its $53 million wastewater treatment plant upgrade, state environmental officials said today.

A 0 percent interest rate loan from the Massachusetts Water Pollution Abatement Trust will help enable that savings, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection said in a press release.

The Clean Water State Revolving Fund "interest-free loan of more than $24.2 million, available under the 'O’Leary Provision,' will save Westborough $5.4 million in interest payments over the 20-year life of the loan," the DEP said.

Adopted by the Legistature in 2008, the provision "reduces the standard SRF loan interest rate of 2 percent down to zero percent, provided that the proponent meets certain prescribed criteria, such as the abatement of nutrient-rich wastewater discharges to the environment," the agency said.

"In addition to the SRF interest-free savings, the project previously qualified for principal forgiveness under the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), saving an additional $6 million."