Youngstown gets OEPA loan to upgrade treatment plant

YOUNGSTOWN — Youngstown will rehabilitate and improve secondary sewage treatment infrastructure at its wastewater treatment plant with financing from a low-interest rate loan from Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.

The project, part of the city’s $150 million wastewater-improvement project, will renovate filters, upgrade the activated sludge aeration system and improve the final clarifiers.

The reduced interest rate on the $24.47 million loan will save the city an estimated $6.35 million compared to a market-rate loan. The special 0.86 percent interest rate includes a zero percent rate on $13 million for the portion of the project that helps the city meet combined sewer overflow reduction, plus $50,000 of principal that the city won’t have to repay.