EPA awards Hawaii $18.6 million to fund low-cost loans for water infrastructure projects

The Hawaii Department of Health recently won two grants from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), worth a combined $18.6 million, that it will use on projects to improve wastewater and drinking water infrastructure throughout the state.
 
The EPA awarded a $10.3 million grant for Hawaii’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund and $8.3 million for its Drinking Water State Revolving Fund, both of which will be used to provide counties with low-cost loans to enact drinking water and wastewater facility upgrade projects. Funding will primarily go toward modernization of existing systems and toward making facilities throughout the state more efficient, eliminating excess use of energy and water.
 
“EPA continues to make substantial investments to protect Hawaii’s drinking water and incomparable coastal waters,” EPA Acting Regional Administrator for the Pacific Southwest Alexis Strauss said.
 
The EPA has provided $482 million to Hawaii for water infrastructure projects since 1989, which the state has leveraged into more than $1 billion over 165 loans, with the excess funding coming from a 20 percent state match and from the interest and principle returns on previous loans.
 
The EPA found the Hawaii Department of Health to be non-compliant with its drinking water funds in October 2014, which saw the state receive funding for 2015 in phases, but based on progress made over the past year the state has received its full 2016 funding.