A $3.5 million loan from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to fund a new water treatment plant will save the city about $1 million in interest over 20 years, officials said Wednesday.
“We’re very excited because the interest rate on this loan is so low that the taxpayers are saving a lot of money. We’re grateful to the state for this opportunity,” said City Administrator Bill McGrath.
“The 2 1/2 percent interest rate is half what we’d probably pay if we sold bonds to pay for the project.”
The loan is one of the first to be granted through Opportunity Returns, a state program to boost economic growth in northeast Illinois.
“Though this new treatment facility is vital to protecting the health of Batavia residents, it will also strengthen the community’s infrastructure, which we all know is critical to attracting and supporting new business.
“Through targeted investments such as this one in Batavia, Opportunity Returns is giving communities the tools they need to grow and prosper,” Gov. Rod Blagojevich said this week in a news release.
Batavia needs a new treatment plant to comply with federal limits on the amount of radium in tap water. The city got a one-year extension of the federally mandated deadline to bring radium levels into compliance.
The treatment plant, at Fabyan Parkway and Windham Drive, is expected to be working before the new deadline of Dec. 7, McGrath said.
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The project also includes three new wells.