The Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) program accelerates investment in our nation's water infrastructure by providing long-term, low-cost supplemental loans for regionally and nationally significant projects. BULL RUN TREATMENT PROGRAM BORROWER: City of Portland, Water Bureau LOCATION: Portland, Oregon TOTAL WIFIA LOAN AMOUNT: $319 million TOTAL WIFIA PROJECT COSTS: $651 million POPULATION SERVED BY PROJECT: 1 million people NUMBER OF JOBS CREATED: 6,100 jobs (both loans) PROJECT DESCRIPTION The City of Portland's Bull Run Treatment Program will provide safer drinking water to nearly 1 million residents in Multnomah, Clackamas, and Washington Counties. The city will construct (1) a new water filtration and treatment plant to remove the microorganism Cryptosporidium and other potential contaminants from drinking water and (2) pipelines to deliver treated water to the existing system. In addition, the city will enhance existing corrosion control treatment to protect household drinking water by reducing lead leaching from household plumbing. The program is designed to comply with two federal regulations, the Long Term 2 Enhanced Surface Water Treatment Rule and the Lead and Copper Rule. Together, these projects will protect public health, improve drinking water quality, and increase the system's resiliency and reliability. With this second loan, the WIFIA program is now providing over $1 billion in financing to support the $2.1 billion Bull Run Treatment Program. PROJECT AND FINANCING BENEFITS • Improves drinking water quality and removes microorganisms from source water. • Increases system resiliency to fire, landslides, major storms, and earthquakes. • Ensures the system meets the terms of two compliance agreements with the Oregon Health Authority. • Defers loan repayments for several years to allow feasible growth in water rates. Advantageous terms will save the City of Portland an estimated $140 million over the life of the loan. WIFIA PROGRAM A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Program Photo credit: City of Portland £\ United States Environmental Protection ^1 Agency WEBSITE: www.epa.gov/wifia EMAIL: wifia@EPA.gov ------- |