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Department of Ecology Press Release - October 24, 2005
05-258
SPOKANE - The effort to improve wastewater treatment in the town of Harrington, in Lincoln County, has just received a $363,000 boost in the form of grants and loans from the Department of Ecology (Ecology).
Ecology has awarded Harrington a grant for $181,500 from the state's Centennial Clean Water Fund and a low-interest loan of $181,500 loan from the state Water Pollution Control Revolving Fund. The city also received grants and loans from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's rural development office.
The money will be used to build a new wastewater treatment facility and add a wetland filtration system.
"Harrington's lagoon system for wastewater treatment needed improvement," said Richard Koch, a water-quality expert at Ecology's Spokane office. "With the upgrades, we'll feel much more confident that the treated water is clean enough to meet water-quality standards."
Harrington is replacing its lagoons with a more effective wetland system and a new aeration basin that provides a higher degree of initial treatment. The aeration helps to break down the organic materials in waste water. The waste water is then pumped to a series of filters that provide additional treatment, especially for nitrogen, and then to the wetlands for final polishing and infiltration to shallow ground water.
The loan portion of the award is authorized under the federal Clean Water Act for the Harrington Wastewater Treatment Plant Improvements Project. Because of the city's financial need, the loan rate has been reduced from 1.5 percent to zero percent for a term of 20 years. These state and federal funding sources are dedicated for improving and protecting water quality in our state.
This fiscal year Ecology offered approximately $10.4 million in Centennial Clean Water funds and $68.2 million in state Water Pollution Control Revolving funds to local governments for high-priority water-quality projects.
The grants and loans are critical to local government's ability to protect water quality and are in high demand. This year local governments requested approximately $156 million for water quality projects.
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Contact: Jani Gilbert, public information manager, 509-329-3495; pager, 509-622-3073
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
