EPA gives HRSD $225M loan for aquifer
Environmental Protection Agency administrator Andrew Wheeler presented the Hampton Roads Sanitation District with a $225 million loan Tuesday to help with HRSD’s efforts to make sure there’s enough fresh water for future generations.
The money will support the Sustainable Water Initiative for Tomorrow program, or SWIFT. It’s a longterm plan for converting sewage into drinking water, then injecting it back into the Potomac aquifer.
“There are many places like Suffolk in the Tidewater region that have seen your population grow over the past year, and this growth is expected to continue into the next several decades,” Wheeler said at the event, held outside of the SWIFT research center in Suffolk. “Withthis growthwill come more demand for fresh water.”
The money will help to build wells to add highquality water to the Potomac aquifer, which also will reduce surface water discharges into the Chesapeake Bay, Wheeler said.
The project and funds, he said, will save the sanitation district over $72 million. They’ll also create1,412 jobs.
“The Trump administration’s commitment to clean water, clean air and clean land has been demonstrated not just here in Virginia,” Wheeler said before noting that air pollution has fallen by 7% under President Donald Trump.
He also said that with Trump in office, the EPA has invested over $40 billion into new water infrastructure.
Wheeler said the EPA has agreed to a $1 billion master agreement to provide funding under the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act.
SWIFT will cost about $460 million, said Molly Block, a spokesperson for the EPA. Tuesday’s loan will cover about half of that, and it’s the first installment of many.
The other half of the cost will be made up by the Virginia Resources Authority and the Clean Water State Revolving Fund.
HRSD general manager Ted Henifin said that to date, the program has allowed HR SD to successfully return 375 million gallons of water to the “thirsty and overdrawn Potomac aquifer.”
“It’s the first step on our path to nearly 100 million gallons each day by 2032, ensuring a sustainable supply of groundwater will be available for future generations.”