ORONO – More than $8 million in loans and grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture will allow Orono and Lincoln to upgrade their water treatment facilities and eliminate outdated and inefficient processes.

“We’re quite pleased with the funding package,” Paul Wintle, superintendent of the Orono Water Pollution Control Facility, said Tuesday.

The towns of Orono and Lincoln combined are slated to receive $8.25 million in grants and low-interest loans to improve the town’s sanitation facilities, U.S. Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins announced Tuesday.

The funding comes from the USDA’s Rural Development program.

“It’s an investment in upgrading the infrastructure,” Wintle said.

Orono will receive a $1.25 million grant and a loan worth about $6 million to upgrade its nearly 35-year-old plant. The facility serves 8,000 people in Orono and at the University of Maine.

The town has been trying to secure funding for improvements to the facility for several years, Wintle said.

Bids for the project likely will not go out until January 2006, after the facilities plan is completed and the final design has been drafted.

The director of Lincoln’s wastewater treatment plant was out of town on Tuesday.

The municipality will receive more than $700,000 in grant money and a nearly $600,000 loan to upgrade its wastewater treatment facility.