California provides $1.6bn fund to upgrade wastewater treatment facility in Sacramento County

US-based Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District has received a $1.6bn fund from the State of California’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) to upgrade the wastewater treatment plant in Elk Grove.

The $2bn EchoWater project will be built over the next eight years and is reported to be the largest single block of financing issued to a project under the CWSRF.

California State water board chair Felicia Marcus said: "Projects such as EchoWater illustrate the role of the Clean Water State Revolving Fund in accelerating critical water quality and water supply projects.

"With the help of the state water board, the Sacramento region can now upgrade their system to better protect public health, while realising substantial cost savings to pass on to their ratepayers."

The EchoWater project will enhance the quality of water and result in an estimated 95% reduction in ammonia discharged to the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, once in operational.

The district is planning a formal groundbreaking for the project on 28 May 2015, which is expected to be fully operational by 2023.

Regional San offers wastewater treatment and disposal for households and business within Sacramento County and the city of West Sacramento, providing services to approximately 1.4 million people.

Regional San’s district engineer Prabhakar Somavarapu said: "Our ability to secure this funding means at least a half billion in savings over the life of the loan compared to traditional bond funding.

"This is another way we’re working to minimise the financial burden to our ratepayers for this important regional project. It underscores why the revolving fund programme is very important to communities, not only in California, but around the country."