BANGOR – Voters approved $18.3 million in state borrowing Tuesday to help communities throughout Maine upgrade aging water and sewer systems, according to unofficial vote counts.

With 78 percent of precincts reporting early Wednesday morning, the environmental bond measure was passing 58,037 votes to 31,526, or 64.8 percent to 35.2 percent.

The additional borrowing will help communities throughout the state pay for upgrades to wastewater treatment and drinking water systems as well as construction of new pollution control projects. The bond proceeds will be distributed to communities through grants and low-interest loans.

Deborah Garrett, deputy commissioner of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, called the bond measure’s apparent passage “terrific,” especially considering the amount of federal matching dollars it will generate.

Garrett called the bonds a “great step” toward addressing an estimated $315 million in infrastructure improvements needed throughout the state during the next five years.

“It’s wonderful,” Garrett said late Tuesday night. “I just think it’s really important for Maine to go this far and to make a difference for infrastructure that people don’t think about that much.”

In addition to the water bonds, voters also backed by a wide margin a $113 million bond package for transportation projects.

With such low-key issues on the ballot, state officials were expecting rather dismal voter turnout rates.

Even so, state officials had stepped up voter turnout efforts in recent weeks by emphasizing the amount of federal dollars Maine would receive with the bonds. The $18.3 million in state borrowing for water infrastructure is expected to leverage another $49.5 million in federal funding.

About two-thirds of the environmental bond – $12 million – will be earmarked as grants for new or upgraded wastewater treatment and sewer infrastructure. Most of the likely recipients will be communities in rural areas of the state, including Machias, Indian Township and the Limestone, Loring and Caribou region.

Another $2.9 million will go to communities in the form of low-interest loans for larger pollution control programs.

Although final decisions on the loan recipients have yet to be made, one likely beneficiary is the town of Baileyville in Washington County.

Baileyville, like many communities throughout the state, is working to separate the town’s wastewater system from the storm water runoff system. During storms, the combined system can overwhelm a town’s treatment plant, potentially causing the release of untreated sewage into local waterways.

The $1.1 million from the State Revolving Fund loans program would help the town of roughly 1,700 pay for the next two phases of fixes to the “combined sewer overflow” problem.

“This loan is important to us,” Scott Harriman, Baileyville’s town manager, said just before the polls closed. “We don’t have the capacity to do it from our own budget or our own treasury.”

The final $3.4 million of the $18.3 million in borrowing will provide low-interest loans to towns planning to improve or upgrade their drinking water systems. A partial list of likely recipients includes Newport, Milo, Madawaska, Calais and Presque Isle, and the Passamaquoddy Water District.

Dr. Dora Anne Mills, who heads the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said some communities would have to undertake the costly upgrades no matter what in order to remain compliant with the Clean Drinking Water Act.

The bonds will allow the towns and cities to take advantage of a 5-to-1 match in federal funding, thereby preventing ratepayers from having to shoulder 100 percent of the financial burden.

“It’s not only a public health bond but also an economic development bond,” Mills said. “We have some of the oldest water systems in the country, with some of them over 100 years old.”

In 2005, voters approved $8.9 million in borrowing for water and wastewater infrastructure improvements.

For a link to the complete list of projects, visit www.bangordailynews.net.