{"id":2401,"date":"2017-08-01T13:45:35","date_gmt":"2017-08-01T17:45:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/?p=2401"},"modified":"2017-08-01T13:45:35","modified_gmt":"2017-08-01T17:45:35","slug":"epa-backs-maryland-plan-to-improve-water-quality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/2017\/08\/01\/epa-backs-maryland-plan-to-improve-water-quality\/","title":{"rendered":"EPA Backs Maryland Plan to Improve Water Quality"},"content":{"rendered":"<h5 style=\"font-weight: bold;color: #444444\"><span style=\"font-weight: inherit;font-style: inherit;color: #000000\">MEDIA CONTACTS:<\/span><\/h5>\n<p style=\"color: #868686\"><span style=\"font-weight: inherit;font-style: inherit;color: #000000\"><strong style=\"font-weight: bold;font-style: inherit\">David Sternberg<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #868686\"><a style=\"font-weight: inherit;font-style: inherit;color: #f33e0f\" href=\"tel:+2158145548\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">(215) 814-5548<\/a><br \/>\n<a style=\"font-weight: inherit;font-style: inherit;color: #f33e0f\" href=\"mailto:sternberg.david@epa.gov\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sternberg.david@epa.gov<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #222222;text-align: center\" align=\"center\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt\"><strong>EPA Backs Maryland Plan to Improve Water Quality<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Philadelphia, PA (Aug. 1<span class=\"aBn\"><span class=\"aQJ\">, 2017<\/span><\/span>) \u2013\u00a0<\/strong>The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced it has approved and helped fund a $303 million plan by Maryland to implement 36 clean water projects, including a series of major improvements to control stormwater and enhance wastewater infrastructure in Baltimore.<\/p>\n<p>The Intended Use Plan includes an award of $32 million from EPA\u2019s FY 2017 Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF).\u00a0 The plan by the Maryland Department of the Environment is also funded with a $6.4 million state match, repayments from prior CWSRF loans, interest earnings and $150 million in bond proceeds.<\/p>\n<p>The Baltimore projects targeted for funding in the state\u2019s CWSRF plan include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>$73.7 million to Baltimore City ($36,970,800) and Baltimore County ($36,700,000) for improvements to the Back River wastewater treatment plant.\u00a0 These improvements will help eliminate overflows of untreated sewage.$46.7 million to implement the city\u2019s Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) permit program by constructing various green infrastructure projects to absorb stormwater.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Baltimore is also expected to receive $7.5 million for three sanitary sewer collection system improvements, part of the $54.8 million allocated for 20 such projects statewide.\u00a0 A full list of these and other CWSRF projects to be funded can be found at:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/usepa.pr-optout.com\/Tracking.aspx?Data=HHL%3d8-97%402-%3eLCE583339%26SDG%3c90%3a.&amp;RE=MO&amp;RI=1824608&amp;Preview=False&amp;DistributionActionID=39203&amp;Action=Follow+Link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">http:\/\/mde.maryland.gov\/programs\/water\/WQFA\/Pages\/index.aspx<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cRestoring our nation\u2019s water infrastructure is one of President Trump\u2019s and EPA\u2019s top priorities because all Americans deserve clean water,\u201d said EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt.<\/p>\n<p>The CWSRF funding follows the recent announcement that Baltimore has been invited to apply for a $200 million federal loan to improve its water infrastructure through the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMaryland appreciates EPA\u2019s support of our clean water investment plan to protect public health and safety and prevent water pollution in Maryland communities and the Chesapeake Bay,\u201d said Maryland Secretary of the Environment Ben Grumbles. \u201cIn partnership with EPA, the Maryland Department of the Environment will continue to provide financial assistance to local jurisdictions to help them comply with their pollution reduction requirements under our state\u2019s blueprint to restore the national treasure that is the Chesapeake Bay.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The CWSRF program provides low interest loans for the construction of wastewater treatment facilities and other projects vital to protecting and improving water quality in<\/p>\n<p>rivers, lakes and streams for drinking water, recreation and natural habitat.\u00a0 The loans help communities keep water and sewer rates more affordable while addressing local water quality problems.<\/p>\n<p>Other key projects targeted for funding with the CWSRF funds include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>$86.6 million to Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC) to design and construct a regional biosolids facility including bio-energy at the Piscataway wastewater treatment plant in Prince George\u2019s County.$15 million for the state Department of Housing and Community Development to promote energy efficiency in homes to reduce atmospheric pollution to the Chesapeake Bay.<\/li>\n<li>$5.6 million to the City of Hagerstown in Washington County for planning, design and construction of emergency repairs to the Edgemont Reservoir.<\/li>\n<li>$3 million to Calvert County for an upgrade to Enhanced Nutrient Removal at the Solomons wastewater treatment plant to improve water quality in local waters and the Chesapeake Bay.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For more information about EPA\u2019s Clean Water State Revolving Fund Program:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/usepa.pr-optout.com\/Tracking.aspx?Data=HHL%3d8-97%402-%3eLCE583339%26SDG%3c90%3a.&amp;RE=MO&amp;RI=1824608&amp;Preview=False&amp;DistributionActionID=39202&amp;Action=Follow+Link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.epa.gov\/cwsrf<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MEDIA CONTACTS: David Sternberg (215) 814-5548 sternberg.david@epa.gov EPA Backs Maryland Plan to Improve Water Quality Philadelphia, PA (Aug. 1, 2017) \u2013\u00a0The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced it has approved and helped fund a $303 million plan by Maryland to implement 36 clean water projects, including a series of major improvements to control stormwater and<a href=\"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/2017\/08\/01\/epa-backs-maryland-plan-to-improve-water-quality\/\">&nbsp;&nbsp;Read the Rest&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":1350,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-epa","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2401"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2401\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2402,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2401\/revisions\/2402"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}