EPA Announces $610 Million Loan to Provide a Reliable Source of Drinking Water to Northeastern Illinois Communities
WASHINGTON – U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a $610 million Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) loan to the Grand Prairie Water Commission, which serves six communities in northeastern Illinois. This loan will transition almost 300,000 residents to Lake Michigan—a more reliable source of drinking water—from a declining groundwater aquifer.
“No American should worry about the reliability of their drinking water,” said EPA Assistant Administrator for Water Jess Kramer. “We are pleased that Grand Prairie Water Commission will use this investment to ensure its water customers have a stable and reliable source of drinking water for current and future generations.”
The Grand Prairie Water Commission is made up of six member communities including the Cities of Crest Hill and Joliet and the Villages of Channahon, Minooka, Shorewood, and Romeoville. The Water Commission member communities currently rely on a declining groundwater aquifer as their primary source of drinking water. EPA’s WIFIA financing will support the Commission’s Alternative Water Source Program. With this loan, the commission will construct a 62-mile regional water transmission network and upgrade other water infrastructure and systems. This project will enable these communities to transition from their primary source, a declining groundwater aquifer, to Lake Michigan’s reliable, high-quality source water. Establishing this alternative water source will ensure the commission can meet the drinking water needs of current and future customers.
“We thank the USEPA for making this critical funding assistance available and helping to keep the program affordable for our member communities,” said Shorewood Mayor CC DeBold, GPWC Board of Commissioners Chair. “Fueled by this investment, we look forward to continuing our progress toward delivery of a new, reliable water source by 2030.”
EPA’s WIFIA program will provide the commission flexibility through the ability to customize repayment schedules and defer principal payments for several years after substantial completion of construction, saving the commission nearly $300 million over the life of the loan.
EPA’s WIFIA program provides a powerful financial tool that can significantly accelerate investments in water infrastructure to protect human health and the environment while saving communities millions of dollars. Since issuing its first loan in 2018, EPA’s WIFIA program has announced $23 billion in financing water infrastructure projects that are strengthening drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure while creating over 168,000 jobs. Through its flexible financing features and competitive interest rates, WIFIA helps communities save money, and accelerate water infrastructure investments.
WIFIA funding is available to support additional water infrastructure projects, including up to $6.5 billion available to water systems and another $550 million available to State infrastructure financing authorities. EPA is currently accepting letters of interest.
Learn more about EPA’s WIFIA program and water infrastructure investments, including how to submit a letter of interest.
Background
Established by the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act of 2014, the WIFIA program is a federal loan program administered by EPA. The WIFIA program aims to accelerate investment in the nation’s water infrastructure by providing long-term, low-cost supplemental credit assistance for regionally and nationally significant projects. The WIFIA program has an active pipeline of pending applications for projects that will result in billions of dollars in water infrastructure investment and thousands of jobs.