$21M to cover water, sewer projects

WASHINGTON – Funding for 24 water and sewer projects in Maine was announced on Thursday.

The fiscal year 2002 USDA Rural Development in Maine has provided more than $21 million to fund water and waste disposal projects in rural Maine, including more than $5 million in 2002 Farm Bill Projects. The money is part of the $703 million funding made available through the national 2002 Farm Bill for economic development projects in rural communities nationwide. The bill provides funding for 377 projects in 47 states and Puerto Rico, according to a press release.

Local farm bill projects, totaling $4,050,000 in grants and $1,533,430 in loans, will occur in the following places:

. Corinna Sewer District: Upgrading wastewater treatment facility, $1 million grant, $5,550,000 other funding, $7,415,000 total cost of project.

. Newport Water District: Correcting design deficiencies that allowed untreated water to flood the chemical and instrumentation rooms, $200,000 loan, $300,000 grant, $500,000 total cost.

. Northport Village Corp.: Improvements to public water distribution to address arsenic contamination of private wells, $318,000 loan, $260,000 grant, 578,000 total cost.

. Vinalhaven: Phase II of the wastewater collection and treatment project necessary to meet health and sanitary standards as determined by the Department of Environmental Protection, $615,430 loan, $1,845,000 grant, $1.4 million other funding, $3,860,430 total cost.

Local rural utilities funding, totaling $6,537,422 in grants and $9,391,200 in loans, will occur in the following places:

. Benton: Installation of transfer lines, booster station upgrades, and other improvements in conjugation with the Department of Transportation removal and moving of bridges between Fairfield and Benton, $210,800 loan, $172,300 grant, $167,500 from Fairfield, $550,600 total cost.

. Houlton Water Co.: Replacement of about 3,000 feet of sewer lines, which are a potential source of contamination to a local brook, $550,000 loan, $550,000 total cost.

. Mapleton Sewer District: Construction of a wastewater lagoon to correct oxygen discharge into the Presque Isle Stream, $150,000 loan, $550,000 other funding, $700,000 total cost.

. Milo Water District: Replacement of about 5,000 feet of sewer mains to meet state drinking water standard, $275,000 loan, $325,000 grant, $600,000 total cost.

. Milford: Upgrading of the treatment plant and eliminate two sewer outflows into the Penobscot River, $1,044,000 loan, $275,000 grant, $230,000 other funding, $1,549,000 total cost.

. North Haven: Construction of a new pre-ozonation and slow-sand filtration plant to meet the surface water treatment rule of the Safe Drinking Water Act, $214,500 loan, $175,000 grant, $1,778,000 other funding, $2,168,000 total cost.

. Northport Village Corp. (2 projects): Upgrading of the sewer and storm water distribution system, $440,000 loan, $230,000 grant, $170,000 other funding, $840,000 total cost. Upgrading and replacing the water main, $242,000 loan, $188,000 grant, $430,000 total cost.

. Old Town: Upgrading of the mechanical treatment plant and providing storm water separation to minimize sewage discharges to the Penobscot River, $2 million loan, $1 million grant, $4.5 million other funding, $7.5 million total cost.

. Orrington: Extension of sewer utilities to an area that has no public water supply or wastewater treatment facility, $193,000 loan, $500,000 grant, $693,000 total cost.

. Penobscot Nation: Completion of upgrades to a sewage pump station, $150,000 grant, $150,000 other funding, $300,000 total cost.

. Passamaquoddy Tribe Pleasant Point: Improvement of the sewer treatment plant and increase of the concentration of sludge produced by the plant, $500,000 grant, $1 million other funding, $1.5 million total cost.

. Southwest Harbor: Replacement of sewer lines and the addition of a sewer line extension and a new pump station as recommended by the Department of Environmental Protection, $790,000 loan, $427,000 grant, $1,217,000 total cost.

. Vinalhaven: New wastewater collection and treatment system, $625,000 loan, $1 million grant, $4,392,200 other funding, $6,017,200 total cost.