Mt. Vernon, Ill. Sanitary Sewer Project moves forward with IEPA loan approval
MT. VERNON, Ill. (KFVS) - The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) has approved the loan to the City of Mt. Vernon for a large Sanitary Sewer improvement project.
The project includes the construction of new force mains for the Maple Street and Wagner Road lift stations, construction of new gravity flow lines, inlets to the sanitary sewer plant and the lining of various sewer lines in the area of Mannen Street in Mt. Vernon.
City Manager Mary Ellen Bechtel says the total cost of the project is $5,088,597.79. This loan is for a term of 20 years at an interest rate of .83% and the approval also includes principal forgiveness in the amount of $1,526,579.34 which is 30% of the project cost.
“We are continuing to improve the utilities in the City of Mt. Vernon, and this is an important part of the plan to improve the Sanitary Sewer collection system,” said Councilman Ray Botch, Chairman of the Utilities Committee. “The City team has worked very hard to be able to see these projects through to improve the sanitary sewer collection system, maintain the sewer plant, and reduce the inflow and infiltration of storm water into the sanitary sewer. This is great news for the City of Mt. Vernon and a giant step forward toward our improvement goals,” said Botch.
This project was started in 2019 when Heneghan and Associates was engaged to do the engineering and IEPA application.
“It’s been a long process to get to this point. We are very pleased to receive this approval from the IEPA. It would be much more difficult for us to manage the cost of these projects without assistance from the IEPA. The next step is approval of the bids which should be coming very soon so we can hopefully begin construction early Fall 2022. This is one of larger sanitary sewer projects for the City of Mt. Vernon,” said Bechtel.
The completion of this project is expected to be July 2023 if construction begins early this fall.
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