SAN FRANCISCO — U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Regional Administrator Jared Blumenfeld announced a record $1.6 billion in Clean Water Act State Revolving Funds — the largest single block of financing ever issued — to upgrade the Sacramento Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant, according to a press release.
The funding was announced during Blumenfeld’s visit at the recent groundbreaking event for the treatment plant on May 28 located in Elk Grove, California, stated the release.
The upgrade project will bring the plant to advanced treatment levels, removing around 95 percent of ammonia from wastewater discharges to protect the Sacramento River and the San Francisco Bay Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Estuary, reported the release.
The Bay Delta supports more than 750 animal and plant species and is also the hub of California’s water distribution system, providing drinking water to 25 million people and irrigation water to four million acres of farmland, continued the release.
“California’s economic security depends on a healthy Bay Delta, the largest and most important estuary on the West Coast,” said Blumenfeld. “EPA’s Clean Water Act State Revolving Funds are a key investment in clean water infrastructure to protect this precious resource.”
Dubbed the EchoWater Project, the construction of the Sacramento Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant upgrade is expected to cost about $2 billion and will take place over eight years, noted the release.
Read the entire release here.
