The state has implemented a new scoring system for ranking wastewater projects for low-cost government loans.
According to Andrew Gottlieb of the Association to Preserve Cape Cod, the new scorecard ranks wastewater projects in Barnstable County in the top tier.
Gottlieb says the state Department of Environmental protection is implementing the new system this month. It’s a way for Massachusetts towns to get low-interest or no-interest loans for their water projects from the Clean Water State Revolving Fund.
“When you go in and ask for support, one of the key competitive advantages is if you have a clear understanding of the problem you’re trying to solve and an even better understanding of how what you’re proposing to do will result in improvement,” he told CAI.
“Because we have a lot of data, especially in the marine environment, we’re able to make a very strong case both as to what the nature of the problem is, but also how effective our solutions are going to be. And that’s where you see bigger investments going from the federal and state governments.”
Gottlieb says Cape towns and nonprofits have collected data and designed wastewater projects that will work. And because of previous negotiations, towns in Barnstable County qualify for no-interest loans from the fund, rather than the two percent interest that other Massachusetts municipalities pay.
The federal government has promised $1.1 billion dollars to the Clean Water State Revolving Fund over the next five years as part of last year’s infrastructure bill.
