Hard infrastructure dollars pay for stream restoration

Ohio EPA (OEPA) has developed an innovative program that combines conventional sewers and wastewater treatment with “nonstructural” or “green infrastructure” projects to accomplish greater water quality protection.

The program, called the Water Resource Restoration Sponsor Program (WRRSP) addresses the fact that local communities and non-profit groups find it unattractive to use the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) loans for stream protection and restoration because they have no dependable revenue stream to repay the loans. Even though nonpoint pollution problems are often the greatest sources of water quality impairment, and CWSRF was created to provide capital for water quality improvement projects, few green infrastructure projects have been proposed for SRF funds.

On the other hand, knowing that wastewater utilities who typically apply for the CWSRF funds tap into their revenue from ratepayers in order to repay loans, OEPA created a program in which wastewater treatment systems have a motivation to “sponsor” green infrastructure or restoration projects as part of one single loan application. The idea behind the program is simple: OEPA offers communities even lower interest rates on loans for wastewater treatment plant improvements if the communities also sponsor projects that protect or restore water resources.

For example, if a community comes to the state for a $1 million treatment plant loan and also agrees to do a $200,000 restoration project, the state will lower the loan interest rate so that the total project cost is no greater than it would have been for the $1 million conventional project alone.

A community that participates in the WRRSP does not typically implement a restoration project itself. Instead, it will typically enter into a sponsorship agreement with an implementing partner, such as a land trust or a park district, who develops and implements a habitat protection and restoration plan. The sponsorship agreement does not require the implementing partner to make any repayments on the CWSRF loan. The sponsoring community makes all repayments to the CWSRF.

As a result of this innovative program, by the end of 2003, communities in Ohio used $51 million of CWSRF loan funds for 19 projects to protect and restore 4,000 acres of riparian lands and wetlands and 40 miles of Ohio's stream corridors. Iowa and Oregon recently adopted similar programs. Ohio’s “Sponsor” program reinforces the idea that wastewater treatment plant improvements and water resource.

For more information, contact Bob Monsarrat with Ohio EPA ((614) 644-3655) or visit the WRRSP website.