by Jon Styf
The city of Rocky Top is receiving a $2.3 million loan for water infrastructure from the state of Tennessee.
The loan is part of the State Revolving Fund Loan Program to help communities, utility districts and water and wastewater authorities obtain low interest loans for community infrastructure needs.
Rocky Top plans to use the loans for infiltration and inflow correction within the city’s wastewater collection system. The loans have a 20-year term at 1.73% interest.
The Tennessee Local Development Authority approves the loans after approving $111.4 million in loans through the program last year with $64.1 million in clean water loans and $47.3 million in drinking water loans.
“These loans help provide important water infrastructure projects in communities across the state, and we look forward to the improvements they will bring,” Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said in a statement. “The program makes loans more affordable, and we commend local officials for their commitment to meeting these needs.”
The state’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund Loan Program has loaned out more than $2 billion since it began in 1987 while the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund Loan Program awarded more than $300 million since it started in 1996.
The loans vary from 0% to other below market rates based on each community’s economic health.
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Jon Styf is an award-winning editor and reporter of The Center Square who has worked in Illinois, Texas, Wisconsin, Florida and Michigan in local newsrooms over the past 20 years, working for Shaw Media, Hearst and several other companies.
