PISCES
Recognition Program
2018
Compendium
Clean Water
State Revolving Fund
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Director's Address
Dear Colleagues,
Last year, we relaunched the Performance and Innovation in the SRF Creating Environmental
Success (PISCES) program, and it was a huge success. This year is no different: our state partners
demonstrated innovative and impressive projects. Project nominations from all 10 EPA Regions
are represented in this year's PISCES recognition, and they cover a wide variety of technologies,
financing methods, and creativity.
The scale and complexity of the recognized projects represent the determination, coordination,
and imagination our partners put forth to achieve their water quality goals. These projects
are a testament to the significant role the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) plays
in building our nations infrastructure while providing many benefits for public health, local
economies, and the environment.
I want to thank all the people who participated in the development and financing of these
recognized projects as well as those who nominated or reviewed the projects for this year's
PISCES. Thank you.
Andrew Sawyers, Ph.D., Director
Office of Wastewater Management
Sincerely,
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Recognizing Success
The CWSRF's Performance and Innovation in the SRF
Creating Environmental Success (PISCES) program allows
assistance recipients to gain national recognition for
exceptional projects funded by the CWSRE Participating state
programs each nominated one project that demonstrates one
or more of the evaluation criteria:
•	Water quality, public health, or economic benefits
•	Sustainability
•	Innovation
Projects eligible for recognition must have an executed
assistance agreement in place, but they may be any size and
be operational or in the planning phase. After reviewing all
project nominations, EPA selected five exceptional projects
for further recognition. These five projects demonstrated
excellence in matching the PISCES criteria and pushed the
envelope of innovation in using the CWSRF to achieve clean
water for their communities. Several additional projects
closely demonstrated this level of innovation and are
recognized as an Honorable Mention.
We hope that you will enjoy learning about this year's PISCES
projects in this annual compendium and that they will inspire
continued success in the CWSRF.
Table of Contents

Director's Address
1
Introduction
2
Project Map
3
Project List
4
Exceptional
5
Projects

Honorable
10
Mentions

Recognized
15
Projects

2

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2018 PISCES PROJECTS
PISCES
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Exceptional Projects
Delaware:
Wilmington Renewable Energy and Biosolids Facility
Kansas:
Dodge City Biogas Reuse to Motor Fuel Project
New Tersey:
South Monmouth Regional Sewerage Authority Pump Station Resiliency
Oregon:
Prineville Crooked River Wetlands Complex
Texas:
Wichita Falls Permanent Reuse Project
Honorable Mentions
California:
Lake Merced Green Infrastructure
Colorado:
Santa Rita Water Reclamation Facility
Florida:
Minuteman Causeway Stormwater/Streetscape Improvements
Idaho:
Nampa Wastewater Treatment Plant Upgrade
Kentucky:
Lincoln County Sanitation District Junction City to Hustonville Sewer
Maine:
Lewiston- Auburn Water Pollution Control Authority Anaerobic Digestion
Massachusetts:
Grafton Wastewater Treatment Plant Improvements
Ohio:
Avon Lake Lateral Loan Program
Oklahoma:
Atoka Reservoir Dam Rehabilitation
Pennsylvania:
Fritz Island Solids and Liquids Treatment Plant Upgrade
Recognized Projects
Alabama:
Cullman Wastewater Treatment Plant Improvements
Alaska:
Kodiak Compost Facility
Georgia:
Lake Peachtree Dam Spillway
Louisiana:
West Monroe Solar Panel Farm
Maryland:
Cumberland Combined Sewer Overflow Storage Facility
Michigan:
East Lansing Headworks Upgrades and Outfall Retrofit Into a Relief Interceptor
Minnesota:
Afton Stormwater Green Infrastructure and Advanced Wastewater Treatment
Missouri:
Liberty Design-Build Wastewater Treatment Facility
New Mexico:
Cuba Solids Handling and Effluent Reuse
Rhode Island:
Wellington Avenue CSO Treatment Facility Upgrade
South Carolina:
Reedy River Basin Sewer Tunnel
Vermont:
Waterbury Wastewater Treatment Facility Upgrade
Virginia:
Harrisonburg-Rockingham Regional Sewer Authority Biogas Recovery & Reuse
Washington:
Squalicum Creek Water Quality and Biotic Integrity Improvements
West Virginia:
Pennsboro Wastewater System Improvement Project

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PISCES Exceptional Project: Delaware
Program: Delaware Clean Water State Revolving Fund
Assistance Recipient: City of Wilmington
Protect Title: Renewable Energy and Biosolids Facility
The City of Wilmington's wastewater treatment facility received a $36 million CWSRF loan (largest
in the program at the time) to construct a renewable energy and biosolids facility for its treatment
plant. Hie project was designed and implemented under the State of Delaware's Energy Performance
Contracting Act whereby energy and operational savings of the facility pay for the cost of the project
through a guaranteed energy performance contract. This new facility now captures previously flared
off methane gas from the plants anaerobic digester and gas from a nearby landfill and uses it to power
two reciprocating internal combustion engines that generate four megawatts of electricity. This offsets
the treatment facility's electricity needs by 90 percent. Hie thermal energy from the engines is used
to heat a sludge thermal dryer, which reduces 140 wet tons of daily biosolids by nearly 80 percent to
reach about 30 dry tons of biosolids. These reductions in electricity and solid waste disposal costs are
estimated to save the City $16.7 million over 20 years.
This project also sponsored a $3.4 million CWSRF loan for the permanent conservation of 22 acres of
wetlands in the historic Southbridge region. This sponsored project was funded with the savings made
from having the total loan interest rate reduced from three percent to two percent. The two loans have
the same annual debt service of the original loan which means conserving the wetlands required no
extra funds. This has led to an application from the City for an additional $15.2 million CWSRF loan
to remediate the wetlands for flood control and stormwater management for the nearby Southbridge
community.
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PISCES Exceptional Project: Kansas
Program: Kansas Water Pollution Control Revolving Fund
Assistance Recipient: Dodge City
Protect Title: Biogas Reuse to Motor Fuel
Dodge City adopted an innovative approach to processing their wastewater byproducts. In recent
years, the Dodge City South Wastewater Treatment Plant received an EPA grant towards a project to
reuse 100 percent of its 1.7 billion gallons a year of treated effluent as irrigation for over 3,000 acres
of agricultural fields, conserving groundwater for the public water supply. Th is treatment process
produced a significant amount of carbon dioxide and methane gas, which were then burned off in a
flare.
This new project plans to clean and pressurize the biogas to high quality natural gas that can be used
as fuel. This process will occur by removing water from the gas and using pressure swing adsorption
molecular sieves to separate the gasses. A more purified methane biogas will then be pumped to a
nearby gas line and entered into the commercial market as a renewal resource. The methane will be
sold by the City as motor vehicle fuel across the Midwest. The project costs are expected to be less than
$10 million and the City expects to receive about $2.5 million a year in revenue from methane sales.
The annual amount of methane fuel produced is estimated to be the equivalent of 3.5 million gallons of
gasoline per year.

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PISCES Exceptional Project: New Jersey
Program: New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
Assistance Recipient: South Monmouth Regional Sewerage Authority
Protect Title: Pump Station Resiliency Initiative
The South Monmouth Regional Sewerage Authority (SMRSA) operates a sewage treatment plant and
a conveyance system servicing several coastal communities that have recently experienced extreme
weather events. Using the NJ Water Bank's Statewide Assistance Infrastructure Loan (SAIL) Program,
SRF funds were used to provide short-term financing to SMRSA as an advance for Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA) assistance to build three resilient pump stations.
Two of these pump stations are fully operational mobile units that can be d isconnected during a
severe storm and hauled to a safe location. Once the storm subsides, the mobile stations are returned
and reconnected. These mobile resilient pump stations (MRPS) contain main electrical components,
computer equipment, and an emergency generator all located on a mobile trailer at the original
pump station site. Older pump stations in coastal areas have received serious damage in recent years,
costing millions of dollars to repair and left the community without sewer services. The MRPS limits
the disruption in conveyance, minimizes sewer overflows, and saved SMRSA millions of dollars
by preventing damage from future storms. The third pump station replaced an older station that
was in a 100-year flood zone. This new pump station is a permanent fixture designed to look like
the neighboring residential housing and was placed outside the floodplain. All three of these pump
stations were made possible through the NJ Water Bank's SAIL Program which helped SMRSA save an
estimated $1.9 million in short and long-term interest costs.
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PISCES Exceptional Project: Oregon
Program: Oregon Department op Environmental Quality
Assistance Recipient: City of Prineville
Protect Title: Crooked River Wetlands Complex
Several years ago, the City of Prineville needed to increase their wastewater treatment capacity to keep
up with the City's growth. A new treatment plant was estimated to cost $62 million, so the City opted
to look for a more cost-effective option. The City received a grant to fund a groundwater study and
conduct a pilot using a constructed wetland for wastewater treatment. The results of the pilot were
promising, so the 120-acre Crooked River Wetlands Complex was designed and constructed to reduce
instream water temperature and augment stream flow to meet the effluent limits in the City's National
Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) wastewater permit.
The project has over 2 miles of riparian improvements and over 5.4 miles of new trails for recreational
use - of which 3.25 miles are paved for use year-round. Hie complex also serves as an outdoor
classroom, and to date approximately 500 school children have visited the complex for educational
opportunities. The wetland wastewater treatment system cost $7.7 million to construct, saving the
City $54 million by eliminating the need to build a traditional treatment plant. Overall, this innovative
project expanded the City's wastewater capacity, lowered residential and business system development
charges, stabilized monthly wastewater rates, created a new public hiking trail system with numerous
educational opportunities, and improved riparian and instream conditions in the Crooked River.
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PISCES Exceptional Project: Texas
Program: Texas Water Development Board
Assistance Recipient: City of Wichita Falls
Protect Title: Permanent Reuse Project
The increasingly drought prone City of Wichita Falls has proposed a permanent reuse project that
will deliver indirect potable reuse water from the River Road Wastewater Treatment Plant to the City's
raw water source, the Arrowhead Lake. This $33.5 million CWSRF loan is a green project reserve
loan with over $252,000 of principal forgiveness. When complete, this project will allow the plant to
meet stringent effluent limits that will allow up to 16 Million Gallons Per Day (MGD) of processed
wastewater to be added to the lake.
Improvements will consist of a chemical coagulation, filtration, and reaeration system along with a new
pump station and a 15-mile outfall pipeline that will run to the lake to make the City compliant with
the newly established Texas Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (TPDES) discharge requirements.
In recent years, Wichita Falls imposed strict water restrictions on the community, which have reduced
the average MGD use by approximately 72 percent during the summer season. This reuse system will
provide a long-term solution that will assist the City in meeting their source water needs.
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Honorable Mentions
Program: California SRF
Recipient: San Francisco PUC
Protect: Lake Merced Green Infrastructure
The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC)
used CWSRF financing to install green infrastructure
best management practices within the disadvantaged
neighborhood of Ingleside in San Francisco to reduce
the volume of stormwater entering the combined sewer
collection system and the San Francisco Bay. The project
converted nine blocks of Holloway Avenue, a two-acre
drainage area that was nearly 100% paved, into a greener,
more pedestrian- and bike-friendly corridor. The project
includes multifunctional green infrastructure technologies,
such as vegetated bioretention planters, pervious
pavement, underdrains, and a solar powered irrigation
system, which together will manage an estimated 950,000
gallons of stormwater each year. The complete retrofit of
this corridor into a green street encourages pedestrian and
bicycle traffic along this important linkage between San
Francisco State University and the City College/Balboa
Bay Area Regional Transit station. In addition to its water
quality benefits, the project beautified an urban residential
street within a disadvantaged community by creating new
green spaces and a more pleasant streetscape.
Program: Colorado SRF
Recipient: City of Durango
Protect: Water Reclamation Facility
In 2012, the State of Colorado set water quality standards
in the State's waterways and numeric effluent limits for
wastewater dischargers. The expanding City of Durango
needed to upgrade its Santa Rita Water Reclamation
Facility (SRWRF) to meet these new regulations for its
18,000 customers. The last time the plant was upgraded
was 36 years ago, so the decision was made to upgrade
the plant to a Johannesburg secondary treatment facility
to enhance performance, operation, redundancy, and
capacity deficiencies. Upgrades include a second anaerobic
digester and micro turbine system that is expected to
produce 80 kilowatts of power, doubling the plants current
power generation. A high-speed turbo secondary blower
system will be installed, which will result in 30 percent in
annual energy savings compared to the current blowers.
A fats, oil, and grease receiving station will be built that
will significantly increase the amount of renewable energy
the anaerobic digesters produce. Primary clarifiers will
now be active primary clarifiers, increasing the efficiency
in primary sludge removal and enabling the anaerobic
digesters to generate additional biogas. Finally, biosolids
will be dewatered by a Fournier dewatering rotary press
that will reduce the annual $250,000 cost for hauling and
disposing biosolids.
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Honorable Mentions
Program: Florida SRF
Recipient: City of Cocoa Beach
Protect: Stormwater/Streetscape Improvements
The City of Cocoa Beach constructed an urban stormwater
project that will reduce nutrients from entering into
the Banana River Lagoon, which is part of the Indian
River Lagoon system, a designated Estuary of National
Significance. This project treats stormwater from an 8.34-
acre watershed by using Low-Impact Design (LID) best
management practices which include native landscape
bioswales/tree filters, underground exfiltration, and
pervious pavement. Sorption media was also used to
further reduce nitrogen and phosphorous from seeping
into the groundwater. The total construction costs for this
project were $5.2 million of which the CWSRF financed
$1.8 million that was used to match a 319 Nonpoint Source
grant. This large green infrastructure project reduced
nutrient loading for the Indian River Lagoon and has also
added an aesthetic value along City streets which is said to
have attracted new businesses to the area.
Program: Idaho DEQ
Recipient: City of Nampa
Protect: Treatment Plant Upgrade
The City of Nampa, with its population of approximately
91,000, showed foresight and determination to address
their wastewater quality needs by committing to $165
million in financing from the Idaho's Department of
Environmental Quality's State Revolving Fund. These
funds will be used to upgrade the existing wastewater
treatment facility to meet the future standard phosphorus
limit of 0.1 milligrams per liter by 2026 and to also
meet summer seasonal temperature limits. With such
a large project for a city of this size, a three-phase
funding approach was adopted to fund the City's Capital
Improvement Plan over a 30-year period with an interest
rate of 1.68 percent. It is estimated that the City will save
$38 million by using these flexible SRF terms and by
avoiding the market's transaction costs and other various
fees. For the three phase upgrades, Phase I will include a
primary effluent pump station, a third aeration basin, an
anaerobic digester, and a solids handling facility. Phase
II will bring a fourth aeration basin, tertiary filtration,
ultraviolet disinfection, side-stream phosphorus removal,
a new primary thickening process, a fifth anaerobic
digester, and expand the solids handling facility. Phase III
will include individual pump stations and pipelines for
irrigation and industrial conveyance, along with internal
mixed liquor return pumps for the activated sludge
process.
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Honorable Mentions
Program: Kentucky SRF
Recipient: Lincoln County Sanitation District
Protect: Junction City to Hustonville Sewer
Located in central Kentucky, Lincoln County constructed
a sanitary sewage system to service 535 previously
unsewered residential and 50 previously unsewered
commercial customers. This new collection system was a
critical upgrade because it replaced 223 failing septic tanks,
101 straight pipes, and 2 package treatment plants that
resulted in the direct discharge of raw sewage. Lhis raw
sewage was a direct public health issue with documented
findings of pathogens and E. coli contaminations in local
waterbodies. Additionally, an elementary school in the
area retired an inadequate sewage treatment package plant,
which meant the school cafeterias dishwashers could
no longer be used due to the capacity overload. Instead,
meals were served on styrofoam trays with plastic utensils
at a large cost to the school district. These problems
were mitigated with the new conveyance system, which
was made possible through the collaboration of many
supporting partners including the Kentucky Infrastructure
Authority CWSRF who provided over $4 million in
financing towards the overall project costs.
Program: Maine SRF
Recipient: Lewiston-Auburn WPC Authority
Protect: Anaerobic Digestion & Cogeneration
The Lewiston-Auburn Water Pollution Control Authority
(LAWPCA) needed new options for disposal of their
biosolids due to rising costs for application to farm fields.
LAWPCA received a one percent interest SRF loan to
construct an anaerobic digestion facility to reduce their
biosolids capacity. The project had the added benefit of
producing significant amounts of electricity, which is used
to power the water reclamation facility. The project's two
230-kilowatt biogas cogeneration engines produce an
average of 200,000-kilowatt hours per month and have
gone as high 380,000-kilowatt hours in some months. This
self-generated power significantly reduces the facility's
energy costs, and the low interest rate financing made
this project affordable. LAWPCA turned a problem into a
success by converting their biosolid disposal issue into a
process that now produces energy for the facility without
raising rates for their community.

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Honorable Mentions
Program: Massachusetts SRF
Recipient: Town of Grafton
Protect: Treatment Plant Upgrade
In keeping up with new nitrogen and phosphorus effluent
limit standards, the town of Grafton implemented a
series of treatment plant upgrades to improve nutrient
loading for the Blackstone River. Grafton uses both
decentralized wastewater treatment as well as a sewer
system that is serviced by a secondary treatment facility
to service its population of 15,000. Their loan financed
14 projects, which include upgrades to the treatment
facility that address nutrient removal, water efficiency,
energy efficiency, and green infrastructure. These
upgrades included the installation of a 300-kilowatt solar
photovoltaic system, a green roof, a new UV system to
replace a sodium hypochlorite system, installation of
pervious walkways, upgrades to aeration tanks, a new grit
separator, new daylighting windows, lighting conversion to
LEDs, and Energy Star domestic hot water heaters. These
improvements will significantly reduce electricity costs and
produce a higher effluent quality for Grafton's treatment
facility.
Program: Ohio EPA
Recipient: Avon Lake
Protect: Lateral Loan Program
Lake Erie is the drinking water source for over 11 million
people. To help reduce harmful bacteria and fecal matter
from entering the lake from combined sewer overflows,
the Avon Lake Regional Water Utility (ALRWU) received
an Ohio Water Pollution Control Loan Lund (WPCLL)
loan for $5 million at zero percent interest to finance the
creation of a revolving loan fund that will help private
property owners address separation of stormwater
discharges from sanitary sewers. ALRWU realized that
infiltration and inflow from private property was a major
component leading to sewer overflows and basement
backups and required that all homeowners remove clean
water sources from their adjacent sanitary laterals. Lhis
new loan program helps homeowners not only remove
clean water from sanitary laterals, but also supports
directing the clean water through a new storm lateral to
the storm sewer. In the first two years of the program,
approximately 300 customers of ALRWU had applied
for loans resulting in more than $1 million in assistance.
Customers will pay the loan back over a ten-year period as
part of their water and wastewater bills.
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Honorable Mentions
Program: Oklahoma Water Resource Board
Recipient: Oklahoma City Water Utilities Trust
Protect: Atoka Reservoir Dam Rehabilitation
The Atoka Reservoir is a major drinking water supply for
the residents of Oklahoma City. Past flooding has damaged
the reservoir's dam and spillway chute, creating safety
concerns for the City's pump stations and transmission
lines. These critical components serve approximately
1.2 million people within the City and surrounding
communities and were left vulnerable during high-
risk conditions. The City responded to this concern by
financing $34 million through the CWSRF for the repair
of the spillway chute and to increase the height of the
reservoir embankment to allow for greater flood storage
capacity. Improved flood resilience allows the reservoir to
hold more stormwater, which provides a nonpoint source
benefit by reducing sediment and nutrients from flowing
into the neighboring North Boggy Creek. Overall, these
repairs reduce the risk of a dam breach while improving
the water quality of the lake which is on Oklahoma's 303(d)
Impaired Waters List.
Program: Pennsylvania PENNVEST
Recipient: City of Reading
Protect: Solids & Liquids Treatment Upgrade
EPA Region 3's largest CWSRF project undertaken to date
is a complete upgrade of the sludge handling facility for
the City of Reading's wastewater treatment plant. With
a service population of 137,800 residents, Reading is
Pennsylvania's fifth largest city and a financially distressed
municipality. PENNVEST, Pennsylvania's infrastructure
investment authority, financed this CWSRF project for
$149 million at 1 percent interest for 20 years, which
produced a calculated subsidy value of more than $21
million. The existing trickling filter plant is being upgraded
to an extended aeration activated sludge plant that will use
energy efficient variable speed motors and linear Motion
Mixers in the digesters that use 70 percent less power
than conventional mixers. This project will replace the
previously overloaded system and will improve the water
quality for the Schuylkill River and the Delaware Estuary
which are both important culturally, economically, and
recreationally for the distressed area.
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Recognized Projects
Program: Alabama Water Pollution Control
Recipient: City of Cullman
Protect: Treatment Plant Improvements
The City of Cullman Wastewater Treatment Plant operates
a two-stage anaerobic digestion system for reduction of
sludge. For many years, the system operated with only
one heat exchanger because the other heat exchanger
was worn and inoperable, which caused biogas collection
inefficiencies. An SRF loan was used to replace the existing
heat exchangers with two new units that are capable of
being fueled with either natural gas or biogas from the
digestion process. Additional upgrades included a new
biogas collection system, a new waste gas burner system,
new pressure relief valves for each digester basin, new
plastic cross-flow filter media, and recirculation pumps.
A mixing system was also installed within the primary
digester basin to maintain a homogeneous sludge matrix
and increase the efficiency of the digestion process. Prior
to the project, the City spent approximately $2,300 a
month to power the single heat exchanger unit. With the
new biogas system in operation and powering the system,
those costs are now $330 a month—a monthly savings of
$f,970 for the City.
Program: Alaska SRF
Recipient: City of Kodiak
Protect: Compost Facility
The City of Kodiak is located on Alaska's largest island and
home to the largest U.S. Coast Guard base in the United
States. Kodiak traditionally disposed of sewage solids in
the Kodiak Island Boroughs landfill until capacity was
reached. Located 30 miles off the mainland and accessible
only by ferry and airline for commercial transportation, no
other disposal options were viable. In response, the City
collaborated with local partners and the CWSRF to build
a $4.5 million composting facility capable of producing
Class A Exceptional Quality biosolids that can be used
as a soil amendment without restriction. The project
included an asphalt base pad designed to manage runoff,
an enclosed mixing building with an air handling system
to control odors and reduce buildup of unwanted gasses, a
roofed mixing bunker, and six covered curing cells with air
circulation units to maintain the oxygen and temperature
of the compost. The facility successfully processes tons of
wet solids from the City's wastewater treatment facility into
Class A Exceptional Quality compost while fully meeting
Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation
permit requirements and saving the community over
$100,000 in landfill fees.
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Recognized Projects
Program: Georgia SRF
Recipient: Lake Peachtree Dam Spillway
Protect: Peachtree City
Built approximately 50 years ago, the Peachtree Dam
is located along the Flat Creek in Peachtree City It is
classified as a Category II Dam, which means that there is
a probable loss-of-life situation if breached. Exploratory
borings were drilled to evaluate the condition of the
existing spillway, and voids were discovered beneath
the concrete spillway Based on these findings, the City
Council elected to upgrade the spillway to promote long-
term operation of the lake and to mitigate the risk of a
dam failure. A piano-key weir (PK weir) was chosen as a
replacement for the spillway because this design is capable
of both maintaining current flooding levels during higher
frequency storm events while also providing the discharge
capacity needed to pass the runoff associated with the
State-required design storm event. The PK weir crest will
consist of three different elevations, which will control
flood releases during 2- to 100-year storm events while still
providing adequate spillway capacity to safely discharge
runoff. This PK weir will also provide aesthetic value for
the community and is the first one built in North America.
Program: Louisiana SRF
Recipient: City of West Monroe
Protect: Solar Panel Farm
The City of West Monroe is located in the central part
of Ouachita Parish in Northern Louisiana. With a
population of approximately 13,000 people, this City
currently owns and operates the Wastewater Re-Use
Treatment Plant, which treats wastewater to drinking
water standards and reuses it for industrial use to reduce
clean water withdrawals from the Sparta Aquifer. To
lower the energy costs for the facility, the City installed a
solar farm using 880 solar panels installed on the south
side of the facility. This was done using approximately
$1.5 million in financing from the CWSRF. The power
offset created by the solar panels will reduce the facility's
electric consumption by more than 20 percent. These solar
panels are both environmentally friendly and financially
feasible for the City and with a standard 20-year limited
manufacturer's warranty, these savings will carry through
for the foreseeable future.
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Recognized Projects
Program: Maryland Dept. of Environment
Recipient: City of Cumberland
Protect: Combined Sewer Overflow Storage
The Cumberland Wastewater Treatment Plant is
constructing a CSO storage system. This stored CSO
wastewater will then be released in a controlled manner
and treated by the facility's Enhanced Nutrient Removal
System. The facility which serves over 35,000 customers,
is building this storage system to implement a Long Term
Control Plan (LTCP), so that by the year 2025, at least 85
percent of the CSO is eliminated or captured during rain
events. The Maryland Water Quality SRF provided a loan
for approximately $3 million toward the total cost of $31.5
million for this project. To be completed in late 2019, this
storage system will be located beneath recreational fields
and basketball courts and will use gravity to direct excess
influent past the treatment plant and into a five-chamber
concrete tank that can hold a total of five million gallons.
The CSO storage system will also capture 55 percent of
the overflow volume at the treatment plant to help with
continuous high flows and reduce nutrient loading to the
Potomac River.
Program: Michigan SRF
Recipient: City of East Lansing
Protect: Headworics Upgrade & Outfall Retrofit
The City of East Lansing's collection system was installed
almost 100 years ago and includes three interceptor
sewers that convey flows to the water resource recovery
facility. During high rain events, this collection
system experienced overflows in the interceptor sewer
immediately upstream of the water resource recovery
facility. To reduce this overflow issue, CWSRF financing
was used to convert an existing outfall sewer into a relief
interceptor. The project also included the construction of
a new Lfeadworks Facility including fine mechanical bar
screens, raw sewage pumps with variable frequency drives,
influent flow monitoring, and a grit removal system.
Also included in the project were modifications to the
process flow routing, installation of a gravity drain from
the equalization basin to influent sewer interceptor, and
modifications to the existing raw sewage pump station.
These upgrades created an energy efficient collection
system which reduced the plant's energy use for this
system by an impressive 99.2 percent.
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Recognized Projects
Program: Minnesota SRF
Recipient: City of Afton
Protect: Stormwater Green Infrastructure
The City of Afton prides themselves on their historic river
town charm. Located along the St. Croix River which is
designated as a federal Natural Scenic River Way, Afton
has for many years been dealing with flooding issues due
to outdated stormwater infrastructure from a levee that
has a variety of non-compliant septic systems built into
it. For the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to accredit the
levee, the existing septic systems needed to be removed.
In addition, Afton needed stormwater treatment best
management practices to protect the St. Croix River, which
is an Outstanding Resource Value Water, but which is
also impaired for excessive nutrients. The solution for this
was a levee upgrade, a sewer collection system project,
the state's largest subsurface sewage treatment system,
and stormwater green infrastructure. The stormwater
treatment system was designed to mimic the natural
hydrology and limit construction in the historic downtown
area, so a dispersed best management practices approach
was applied to target strategic locations around Afton. The
Minnesota Public Facilities Authority provided CWSRF
financing of $3 million towards the cost of the project,
including $748,000 in principal forgiveness based on green
infrastructure and affordability needs.
Program: Missouri DNR
Recipient: City of Liberty
Protect: Design-Build Treatment Facility
The City of Liberty previously sent their wastewater to
Kansas City to get treatment from another plant. However,
when this facility had to respond to a consent decree to
reduce CSOs, an increase in rates for Liberty would have
been a result. Liberty decided to forgo transferring their
wastewater and instead took out a $79 million CWSRF
loan to build a new state of the art wastewater treatment
facility of their own and perform conveyance system
improvements. The new facility was the first Missouri
CWSRF project to use a design-build approach. Under a
design-build contract, the owner contracts with a single
design and construction team. In a traditional design-
bid-build project, the owner manages separate contracts
for design and construction. Some of the potential
advantages of design-build include quicker project
delivery; fewer changes, claims, and litigation; enhanced
project coordination; and firm costs. The new facility built
using this design-build approach has a 5 MGD capacity
and includes treatment processes for activated sludge,
bio-phosphorus, and nitrogen reduction. This facility
has received a Design-Build Institute of America 2017
National Award for Merit in water/wastewater and was
named Project of the Year for 2017 by the Design-Build
Institute of America-Mid-America Region.
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Recognized
Program: New Mexico SRF
Recipient: Village of Cuba
Protect: Solids Handling & Effluent Reuse
The Village of Cuba needs facility upgrades to meet their
NPDES discharge permit. To meet the requirements of the
NPDES permit, the Village will construct a new effluent
storage basin, effluent pump station, effluent distribution
system, and effluent reuse site. During half of the year, the
Village will land apply effluent to alfalfa or other non-food
crop fields, managing the allowable nitrogen loading rate.
The project also includes the conversion of the existing
lagoon system into an aerobic digester for biosolids
stabilization and the construction of a new solids handling
chemical feed building, drying beds, and a biosolids
storage pad. The disposal of the biosolids is a concern for
the Village because the nearest landfill that accepts this
type of material is 90 miles away. The Village will dry the
solids on the new drying beds and then store the biosolids
on the new pad until there is sufficient quantity to haul
over to the effluent reuse site. The village has a population
of 687 with a per capita income of $16,108. With the land
application of the biosolids, the annual savings of $27,000
makes a big difference. The funding package is over $2.1
million of which $404,700 is a loan at zero percent interest
and the remainder was funded as a grant.
Projects
Program: Rhode Island SRF
Recipient: City of Newport
Protect: CSO Treatment Facility Upgrade
The Wellington Avenue Combined Sewage Overflow
Treatment Facility (WACSOTF) lies along the edge of
Newport Harbor next to Kings Park Beach. Since 1978,
this facility has been in service reducing CSOs that would
otherwise get discharged into the harbor. WACSOTF
is situated at a location on the harbor that is vulnerable
to flooding; a National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration tide gage at the location has documented
nearly a one-foot rise in sea level since 1930. Although
elevated, the first floor of the WACSOTF would be a foot
under a 100-year flood event. To mitigate these risks, the
City of Newport received a $5.4 million CWSRF loan
from the RI Infrastructure Bank to upgrade and fortify
WACSOTF using a 20-year loan with an interest rate
of 2.16 percent. These upgrades added flood protection
and station resiliency due to threats of rising sea levels,
increased the capacity of the sanitary pumps and force
main to eliminate CSOs, added capacity and automation
improvements to the chlorination system, performed a
feasibility assessment for incorporating dechlorination as
an interim measure, and made improvements to ancillary
electrical, mechanical, and HVAC systems critical for
increased reliability, worker safety, and energy efficiency.
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Recognized Projects
Program: South Carolina SRF
Recipient: Renewable Water Resources
Protect: Reedy River Basin Sewer Tunnel
The City of Greenville is considered the 4th fastest growing
city in the country Renewable Water Resources (ReWa),
a public regional wastewater collection and treatment
provider, has determined the need for additional sewer
conveyance capacity for the City. The goal was to construct
an overflow collection system for the 68-square mile
service area while avoiding disturbance to downtown
Greenville. The decision made was that the best option was
to build a tunnel beneath the City. The Reedy River Basin
Sewer Tunnel (Dig Greenville) will be 11 feet in diameter,
1.2 miles long, and is scheduled to be completed in 2020.
The tunnel will be 100 feet below ground, and a tunnel
boring machine will drill through solid rock to install it.
This new collection system will operate by diverting excess
peak wet-weather flow into a drop shaft with vortex piping
that leads from the existing system to the deeper tunnel
system. The tunnel will convey the influent downstream of
the City and reconnect to a gravity interceptor line where
it will be transported to the Mauldin Road Water Resource
Recovery Facility for treatment. The ability to divert
peak wet-weather flows to the sewer tunnel will lessen
the potential for sanitary sewer overflows and reduce the
potential for elevated bacteria levels in the water along this
reach of the river.
Program: Vermont SRF
Recipient: Town of Waterbury
Protect: Treatment Facility Upgrade
The Village of Waterbury's Wastewater Treatment Facility
discharges its effluent in the Winooski River which then
discharges to Lake Champlain. To meet the expected 0.2
mg/1 Phosphorus TMDL for Lake Champlain, the Village
installed an advanced phosphorus removal system that
uses Co-Mag ballasted flocculation technology. Not only
does this Co-Mag system achieve the desired flocculation
and precipitation outputs, it also removes more organics
than can be achieved with the previous aerated lagoon
wastewater treatment process. This new system has shown
a decrease in effluent concentrations of Biological Oxygen
Demand, Total Suspended Solids, and Settleable Solids. A
new processing building for the Co-Mag system was built
along with a new sludge drying bed structure to dewater
and store the chemical sludge prior to disposal in a landfill.
This project cost over $7.3 million in total and was funded
mostly by federal and State grants with a CWSRF loan to
cover the remaining amount.
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Recognized Projects
Program: Virginia DEQ
Recipient: Harrisonburg-Rockingham RSA
Protect: Biogas Recovery and Reuse
The Harrisonburg Rockingham Regional Sewer Authority
(HRRSA) conducted an evaluation of energy savings
and energy recovery opportunities at the North River
Wastewater Treatment Plant. The results showed that
biogas from the anaerobic digester should be reused
to power a sludge dryer to dewater biosolids to reduce
disposal costs. In developing this project, the treatment
facility wanted to dry enough sludge to have capacity
for 100 days of onsite biosolids storage and decrease the
dependence on the land application of Class B biosolids.
A several-month pilot system was created that reviewed
the facility's digester sludge and one food processing waste
stream to quantify biogas generation rates, gas content,
and to determine safe loading limits. The determination
was made to use an indirect sludge drying alternative to
achieve the highest amount of savings for handling their
biosolids. The CWSRF funded the total project costs of
$5.7 million and will produce energy savings worth an
estimated $103,000 in the first year of operation.
Program: Washington Dept. of Ecology
Recipient: City of Bellingham
Protect: Squalicum Creek Water Quality Project
During the 1960's when Interstate 5 was constructed, it left
two large pits in the path of Squalicum Creek. These two
water-filled pits absorb high amounts of solar heat, raising
temperatures, lowering dissolved oxygen, and increasing
fecal coliform concentrations in Squalicum Creek as
it flows through it. The City of Bellingham initiated a
multiphase project to re-route the creek and restore natural
conditions. The CWSRF provided financing for $3.6
million towards the overall project cost. Phases One and
Two re-routed nearly a mile of Squalicum Creek around
one pit and into a newly created channel that reactivated
remnant channels and reconnected the stream with its
floodplain. The project restored 10 acres of riparian and
wetland habitat with native trees and shrubs and removed
a fish passage barrier that opened over 22 miles of
upstream salmon habitat. The City installed temperature
loggers, and will measure shade for ongoing monitoring.
Phase Three continued re-routing the main-stem around
the other pit, restoring riparian buffers, and the new
channel. Phase Four will continue the re-routing around
culverts, and a major traffic intersection. Phases One and
Two of this project earned the American Public Works
Association "Project of the Year" award (environmental
projects under $5 million) in recognition of the City's
excellent implementation practices.
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Recognized Projects
Program: West Virginia SRF
Recipient: Town of Pennsboro
Protect: Wastewater System Improvements
The Town of Pennsboro's Wastewater Treatment Plant, which
serves around 600 customers, was routinely failing to meet
the discharge limits outlined in its NPDES permit and had
recurring issues exceeding the 90 percent flow threshold.
The community was issued an order by the West Virginia
Department of Environmental Protection to eliminate two
sanitary sewer overflows (SSO) and to effectively address their
excessive infiltration and inflow concerns. With the town's
low median household income of $24,120 and small customer
base, funding for the proposed $10.8 million plant upgrade
needed to be affordable. For the first time at a wastewater
treatment facility in West Virginia, a three-phased financing
approach utilized potential grant funding while continuing
to implement the necessary upgrades. Phase One consisted of
a new influent lift station, preliminary treatment facility, UV
disinfection system, metering flume and an outfall structure,
and the removal of one SSO. Phase Two consisted of a new
sludge dewatering building, belt press, control building,
generator, and necessary site work. Phase Three consisted of
a new sequencing batch reactor, equalization basin, blower
building, splitter box, conversion of the existing treatment
tank to a sludge holding tank, removal of the second SSO, and
an increase in design flow to handle a peak of 2.10 MGD and
an average daily flow of 0.35 MGD. CWSRF loans were used to
fund a portion of Phases Two and Three.
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For more information about the Clean Water
State Revolving Fund, please contact us at:
United States Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Wastewater Management
Clean Water State Revolving Fund Branch
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW (4204M)
Washington, D.C. 20460
www.epa.gov/cwsrf
Office of Water • October 2018
EPA Publication: 830K18001
All images were provided at the courtesy of the participants.
Clean Water
State Revolving Fund

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