City of Longmont receives EPA award for new water treatment plant

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today presented a Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) award to the City of Longmont for construction of a new 30 million gallon per day surface water treatment plant.

The City of Longmont was provided a $15 million DWSRF loan at a low interest rate and $42 million in other funds to construct the new 30 million gpd surface water treatment plant, and raw water and treated water transmission mains, doubling its previous capacity. In addition, the Town of Lyons used a $5 million DWSRF loan to connect to Longmont’s water treatment plant, abandoning its old plant in the process.

The City of Longmont now provides drinking water services to a population of approximately 80,000. Longmont also has an extensive Water Conservation Program, which has the goal of reducing per capita levels below historical levels.

“The Longmont project is a good example of a project addressing two issues confronting this nation’s aging water infrastructure -- replacing water works whose useful life has been reached and maintaining compliance with Safe Drinking Water Act requirements,“ said EPA Region 8 Administrator Robert E. Roberts. “This EPA award recognizes exceptional creativity in designing projects that promote sustainability and protect public health.”

The Safe Drinking Water Act, as amended in 1996, established the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund program to make funds available to drinking water systems to finance infrastructure improvements. The program also emphasizes providing funds to small and disadvantaged communities and to programs that encourage pollution prevention as a tool for ensuring safe drinking water.