Louisiana Lowers CWSRF Interest Rate
The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is dropping the interest rate on the Louisiana Clean Water State Revolving Loan Fund from 2.95 percent to 0.95 percent. The department has $130 million to loan out at this low interest rate.
The significant drop has many benefits for the state, said DEQ Secretary Harold Leggett. "By lowering the rate, we are helping local communities build their economies while making significant progress in protecting the environment and human health," he said. "When communities repair or construct new wastewater treatment plants, they are employing people. A lot of times we find that the sewerage infrastructure has been in place since the 1920s or '30s. By modernizing these systems, communities are better prepared to meet their permitted limits for water discharge and are better able to maintain these systems."
Louisiana's Clean Water State Revolving Loan Fund program offers low-interest loans to communities for the construction or upgrade of wastewater treatment works and other water quality improvement projects. The program was created by the Clean Water Act Amendments of 1987 and the first loans in Louisiana were made in 1990. Since then more than $400 million in loans have been made to Louisiana communities.
Projects for construction of community sewerage systems must be publicly owned. The applicant must be a public entity with jurisdiction over collection, treatment, and disposal of sanitary sewage within its service area.
An applicant for a non-point source pollution management and estuary improvement project may be any individual, organization, or public entity.
For more information, call Bijan Sharafkhani at 225.219.3957 or Jonathan McFarland at 225.219.3956.