Geneva aldermen recommend $12.5M loan from IEPA to retrofit wastewater plant.
GENEVA – Aldermen recommended approval May 22 for the city to go into a loan agreement with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to borrow $12.5 million to build an upgrade to its wastewater treatment plant.
The goal is to update the plant to limit the amount of phosphorus that is discharged into the Fox River, officials said.
Improvements include blowers, diffusers, an aeration tank modification and raw sewage pump upgrades, officials said.
The construction project is scheduled to go out to bid once the City Council gives final approval to the bond ordinance and loan agreement, officials said.
The loan will have a 1.75 percent interest rate through the IEPA Water Pollution Control Loan Program and will cover construction, engineering, contingency and accrued interest costs, officials said.
Fourth Ward Alderman Jim Radecki blasted the city’s need to borrow the money, calling it “an unfunded mandate” with a cost that will be passed on to the rate-payers.
But Babica said the new equipment will bring about new efficiencies within the plant, replacing some pumps and aerators from the 1960s and 1970s.
Fourth Ward Alderman Jeanne McGowan asked whether the public could reduce its use of phosphorus – such as in fertilizer.
“There is very little we can do about human consumption of phosphorus," Babica said.