REHOBOTH BAY – Governor Jack Markell joined U.S. EPA Region III Acting Administrator William C. Early, Senators Thomas R. Carper and Edward E. Kaufman, Congressman Michael N. Castle and DNREC Secretary Collin O’Mara this afternoon to announce EPA’s award of $19.2 million in federal stimulus funding for wastewater infrastructure projects in Delaware.

The new infusion of money provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) will go to the state’s Water Pollution Control Revolving Loan Fund administered by the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control.

“This funding will help provide more efficient and affordable sewer services to Sussex County residents, produce more than 450 construction  jobs in the area over the next two years and ensure cleaner, healthier water quality for the future of Delaware’s exceptional Inland Bays, which offer numerous recreational opportunities for thousands of Delawareans and visitors,” said Gov. Markell.

The ARRA stimulus funds will help the state and local governments finance a number of requests made through the state’s revolving loan fund, including five municipal sewer projects in Sussex County. The first municipal project to receive these ARRA funds will be the Angola Neck sewer project near Lewes to refinance an existing loan to help make sewer rates more affordable for users.

The other four projects will fund new wastewater collection and conveyance systems for the communities of Johnson’s Corner near Selbyville and Oak Orchard east of Millsboro, a new centralized wastewater system for Woodlands of Millsboro and an expansion of the Inland Bays Regional Wastewater Facility near Long Neck to meet the needs of a growing area.

Together, these five projects will increase Sussex County’s wastewater treatment capacity, eliminate or prevent installation of nearly 3,000 individual septic systems, and reduce the annual nutrient load entering the Inland Bays by more than 45,400 pounds of nitrogen and more than 2,536 pounds of phosphorus. Excess quantities of these pollutants can harm water quality and damage wildlife and fish habitat; reducing them restores both.

“The Inland Bays – Rehoboth, Indian River and Little Assawoman – are among Delaware’s most beautiful and most fragile ecological treasures. This funding will allow us to take crucial steps toward preserving and improving the water quality of these unique estuaries while meeting the needs of our residents for wastewater handling,” said DNREC Secretary Collin O’Mara.

The $19.2 million also includes Green Project Reserve funding for nine projects from six applicants: the Challenge Program, the Safe Haven Animal Sanctuary of Sussex County, University of Delaware Water Resources Agency, New Castle Conservation District, the City of New Castle and the Town of Millsboro. Green Project Reserve funds, which under ARRA must comprise at least 20 percent of funds awarded, must be used for green infrastructure projects, such as stormwater retrofits, wetland restorations, water and energy efficient improvements to wastewater systems and environmentally friendly, innovative projects.

This year, in addition to the projects to be funded by federal stimulus money, the Water Pollution Control Revolving Loan Fund will provide $49.7 million plus an anticipated $25.2 million from the USDA to fund 33 additional wastewater projects throughout the state – Georgetown, Milford, Blades, Harrington, Dover, Smyrna, Newark and Wilmington, plus Kent and New Castle counties.

Since the Delaware General Assembly created the Water Pollution Control Revolving Loan Fund in 1990 to help facilitate financing of wastewater infrastructure in Delaware, the fund has been awarded 15 grants through the EPA’s Clean Water State Revolving Loan Fund program, which requires a 20 percent state match. The program has provided 42 loans for municipal wastewater projects totaling $183 million and 1,143 loans for non-point source pollution control projects totaling $11 million.