EPA Region 10 DWSRF WATERS Awards
A
fro^ ^
DDn1^
et State *
WATERS
Well-Planned
Affordable
ransferable
Efficient
Resilient
Sustainable

-------
2017
WATERS
Award
Winners
Alaska
•	Anchorage Water & Wastewater
Utility
•	City of Cordova
Idaho
•	Comore Loma
•	City of Orofino
Oregon
•	City of Beaverton
•	Pelican Bay Heights
•	Rainbow Water District
•	Sustainable Infrastructure Plan-
ning Projects (SIPP) program
Washington
•	Liberty Lake Sewer & Water
•	City of Port Townsend
•	City of Seattle
About The WATERS Awards
Recognizing the most innovative and effective DWSRF
projects.
Since the first Drinking Water State Revolving Fund
(DWSRF) loan was signed back in 1997, borrowers have
utilized this program to fund projects that deliver a public
health benefit as well as meet other related goals. The
EPA Region 10 WATERS award program seeks to recog-
nize exceptional DWSRF projects, nominated by state
DWSRF staff, that help borrowers maintain, or return to,
compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act, as well as
achieve one or more elements of the WATERS award.
Those elements include projects that: are Well-planned,
address Affordability issues, are Transferable to other
communities, provide benefits for water or energy Effi-
ciency, as well as add Resiliency and/or Sustainability at-
tributes.
About the Region 10 DWSRF Program
Over the past 20 years, the Region 10 DWSRF pro-
gram has been capitalized at a total of $1.2 billion. To
date, using those funds, along with state match, repay-
ments and interest earnings, Region 10 states have pro-
vided $1.8 billion in DWSRF loans.
Region 10 DWSRF Loans (1997-2017)
$871m
$342m
$230m
$377m
I
Region 10 States
Alaska "Idaho m Oregon m Washington

-------
About the DWSRF Program
The DWSRF program was created
by the 1996 Amendments to
SDWA. The first capitalization
grants were awarded to states in
1997. To date, approximately $19
billion in DWSRF grant funds have
been awarded nationwide. Using
those funds, along with state
match, repayments and interest
earnings, states have provided $33
billion worth of DWSRF loans.
These loans have funded approxi
mately 13,000 projects, helping to
ensure the provision of clean and
safe drinking water to an estimated
757 million residents.


Anchorage Water and Wastewater Utility, Ship Creek Water
Treatment Facility Upgrades
The Anchorage Water and Wastewater Utility (AWWU) used an $8.7
million DWSRF loan to finance upgrades to their existing treatment facility
to produce energy efficiency. Because of the long cold winters, AWWU
heats water prior to distribution to prevent freezing in water tanks, water
distribution pipes and service connections. The water treatment facility is
co-located with the Anchorage Municipal Light & Power power generation
station. Waste heat from the power generation process is used to heat the
water with the heat exchanger system, nearly tripli ng the amount of energy
recycled. This has produced an estimated savings of $3 million per year,
making the thermal-generation plant one of the world's most energy effi-
cient.
City of Cordova, LT2 Compliance Upgrades
The City of Cordova's unique geography and high demand for water
used in fish processing, requires the public drinking water system to rely
on four surface water sources treated in three water treatment plants. For
many years three of the water sources, Murcheson Falls, FLeney Creek
Dam/Meals Reservoir, and Orca catchment, were unfiltered. Water from
the backup source, Eyak Lake, has been filtered and chlorinated at the 3.5
MGD treatment plant. This project enabled Cordova's drinking water
treatment and distribution system to meet Long Term 2 Surface Water
Treatment Rule compliance requirements with the installation of UV dis-
infection at Orca, Meals, and Murcheson Water Treatment Plants, up-
grades to the filter system at Eyak Lake Water Plant, a new Onsite Sodium
Hypochlorite Generation System, and upgrades to the SCADA system.
This project was made significantly more affordable by the 1.5% interest
rate, as well as $1.9 million of principal forgiveness.

-------
City of Orofino, Water Treatment Upgrades
The City of Orofino, Idaho, used a $9.7 million
DWSRF loan to construct a 2.2 mgd water treat-
ment plant, a new water intake on the Clearwater
River, a new raw water pump station, and upgrade
a water reservoir and transmission lines. Because
the community converted from conventional filtra-
tion to membrane filtration, and installed energy
efficient pumps, they will save 15 million gallons
of water and 212,700 kWh of electricity per year,
and reduce chemical use by 90%. The project was
made more affordable by $2.5 million in principal
forgiveness, as well as a 30 year loan term and a
0% interest rate.
%iwm Stoma
Comore Loma, Water System Upgrades
The Comore Loma water system serves approximately
1000 people and is located in Idaho's Bonneville county.
The project, which was funded by a $3 million DWSRF
loan, provides additional storage and pumping capacity,
emergency power, distribution system upgrades, and a
new well house and a new water source. Because the pro-
ject incorporated installation of energy efficient pumps
with variable frequency drives, advanced LED lighting,
and a SCADA system, this community will save over
$62,000 per year in energy costs. The project was made
more affordable by $717,000 in principal forgiveness, as
well as a 30 year loan term and a 1.25% interest rate.
City of Beaverton, Aquifer Storage &
Recovery (ASR) Well #5 Project
The City of Beaverton used a $5 million
DWSRF loan to design and construct a new ASR
well to replace an existing ASR well that was past
its design life. ASR wells can serve as an innova-
tive and lower cost alternative to traditional water
reservoirs, if the right geological conditions exist.
Oregon's basalt geology provides exceptional un-
derground storage capacity. During the winter
months, surface water is pumped and treated, then
placed into the ASR well for use during the drier
summer months. By using this approach, Beaver-
ton is able to meet a variety of key objectives, in-
cluding seismic and drought resiliency. The pro-
ject was also made more affordable by inclusion
of $750,000 in principal forgiveness.

-------
SIPP PROJECTS BY ACTIVITY TYPE
Pelican Bay/Harbor Water Merger and Annexa-
tion Project
http:// www. Oregon. gov/ oha/PH/HE ALTHYENVIRONMENTS/
DRINKINGWATER/SRF/Pages/sipp.aspx
The Pelican Bay Heights Water District used the
proceeds of a $394,027 DWSRF loan (with 100%
principal forgiveness to address affordability issues)
to merge with neighboring Harbor Water Public Util-
ity District. Pelican Bay served a populati on of ap-
proximately 40, while Harbor Water serves more
than 3,000 customers. The project included design
and construction of two 10,000 gallon reservoirs, and
an intertie.
Management
754
Oregon's Sustainable Infrastructure Planning
Projects (SIPP) program
Since 2015, Oregon has funded 44 planning pro-
jects with a total of $850,000 in fully forgivable
loans through the SIPP program. SIPP was estab-
lished to encourage water systems to become more
sustainable through planning, generate projects that
are ready to proceed, and fully utilize the additional
subsidy authority from the DWSRF program. Pro-
jects are selected to receive up to $20,000 each
based on readiness to proceed, capital improvement
history, and preference is given to systems with
fewer than 300 service connections. The link con-
tains more information about SIPP:
Rainbow Water District, Chase
Wellfield GWUDI Mitigation Project
The Rainbow Water District, near Spring-
field, Oregon, received a $3 million DWSRF
loan to construct a new treatment system, new
transmission line, develop a new water source,
and acquire land/easements. Part of the project,
the transmission line, addresses seismic con-
cerns, which provides resilience. The project
was also well planned due to the hiring of con-
sultants to perform an aquifer study to evaluate
water supply options. The project will help mit-
igate E.coli issues prevalent in Well #2, which
were likely caused by the well being GWUDI.
The GWUDI designation required the District to
install treatment to comply with the SWTR.
The project was made more affordable by in-
creasing the loan term to 30 years, and provid-
ing $515,000 in principal forgiveness.

-------
Liberty Lake Sewer and Water District, Consoli-
dation of East Side Liberty Lake Improvement
Club with Liberty Lake Sewer and Water District
The Liberty Lake Sewer and Water District
(LLSWD), which serves residents near Spokane,
Washington, used a $905,465 DWSRF loan to consoli-
date the East Side Liberty Lake Improvement Club
(ESLLIC). This water system was incorporated in
1945 and serves approximately 300 residents. The two
systems already had an intertie, and a contractual rela-
tionship for LLSWD to operate and maintain the
ESLLC water system. The project included upgrades
to the existing intertie, replacement of old and under-
sized distribution mains, and abandonment of two pri-
mary wells for ESLLC. The consolidation project was
made significantly more affordable by provision of
50% principal forgiveness, which brought the base wa-
ter rates down from $50.76 to $18.52.

r./.'
kit < '

!
City of Port Townsend, LT2 Compliance Project
Residents in the City of Port Townsend, on Wash-
ington's Olympic Peninsula, receive their drinking
water from two rivers, the Big and Little Quilcene
Rivers, via 30 miles of transmission pipeline. For
more than 30 years, the water was not filtered under
criteria laid out in the original Surface Water Treat-
ment Rule. However, as a result of LT2, the city was
required to install either UV disinfection or filtration.
The city used three separate DWSRF loans totaling
nearly $15 million to design and construct a mem-
brane filtration plant capable of producing 3 million
gallons per day. The project is considered efficient in
that the design allows flow through the treatment pro-
cess with existing hydraulic head, eliminating the need
for pumping. Project affordability was accomplished
via $3.6 million of principal forgiveness.
City of Seattle, Chester Morse Lake
Emergency Pump Station
One of Seattle's primary water sources
is the Chester Morse Lake reservoir on the
Cedar River. Seattle Public Utilities (SPU)
used two DWSRF loans totaling $18 mil-
lion to construct a new floating pump sta-
tion. This pump station allows SPU to con-
sistently deliver, regardless of seasonal wa-
ter level variations, 240 million gallons per
day to the 1.4 million people served by the
utility, while maintaining adequate in-
stream flow commitments for aquatic life.
The pump station replaced two temporary
pump stations that were past their design
life and were complex to mobilize and use.
The project improves SPU's resiliency dur-
ing low-inflow/drought conditions.

-------