West Virginia funding program recognized by EPA 

The WVDEP’s Division of Water and Waste Management, represented by Mike Johnson, Kathy Emery and Rosalie Brodersen, was recently presented a PISCES Award at the national Council of Infrastructure Financing Authorities’ annual meeting in Seattle. PISCES is an acronym for “Performance and Innovation in the SRF Creating Environmental Success.” West Virginia was one of 10 states recognized by the EPA for fiscal year 2009.

The Clean Water SRF was established in 1987 by Congress to serve as a long-term funding source for projects that clean and protect the nation’s waters. It funds, through low-interest loans, a broad range of projects from wastewater systems to non-point source pollution control projects. Both federal and state dollars are used for the loans.

The WVDEP was recognized by the EPA for its outstanding performance and leadership in innovative partnerships, effective outreach, leveraging practices, watershed approach and exceeding requirements of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (stimulus bill).

“Specifically mentioned about us was our continued success in the non-point source funding arena, where we doubled our funding assistance in one year,” said the WVDEP’s Johnson, program manager for West Virginia’s SRF. “Our relationship with the West Virginia Housing Development Fund in implementing our Onsite Loan program for correcting failing septic systems was also mentioned.”

Under the Onsite Loan Program in fiscal year 2009, the WVDEP transferred $350,000 from the SRF to the West Virginia Housing Development Fund and Safe Housing and Economic Development Inc., which in turn offered low-interest loans to homeowners for the repair or replacement of failing onsite sewage disposal systems. A total of 46 loans were issued for $245,213.

Over the last 10 years, West Virginia’s SRF has contributed $16.6 million to non-point source pollution projects in the Mountain State.

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