Contact: MaryAnna Peavey, Grants and Loans Bureau Chief, maryanna.peavey@deq.idaho.gov
BOISE – The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) today awarded $1,800,000 in low-interest drinking water emerging contaminant construction loan funding to the City of Lewiston in Nez Perce County, Idaho.
The funding will be used to address PFOS and PFOA emerging contaminants by constructing a carbon dioxide system at the water treatment plant and decommissioning Well 4.
The loan is from DEQ’s State Revolving Loan Fund and is capitalized annually by grants from the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Emerging Contaminants program, which is funded through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The loan carries a simple 0% interest rate and $1,800,000 in principal forgiveness. The favorable loan terms represent $3,344,449 in savings to the community when compared to average costs for municipal general obligation debt issuances.