Weather Sheffield Lake Ohio

Sheffield Lake has obtained a $345, 902 low-interest loan from Ohio EPA to help replace a wastewater force main sewer line. The project is designed to help keep untreated sewage out of Ohio’s waterways.

Sheffield Lake will replace a 50-year-old section of approximately 2, 600 linear feet of sewer pipe between a Sheffield Lake lift station, and a gravity sanitary sewer on the western end of the city that transports wastewater to the city of Lorain for treatment. The force main is currently out of service with numerous maintenance issues. The proposed project would restore full-pumping capacity to the city’s collection system in peak flow and wet-weather events, taking the pressure off the only other force main between Sheffield Lake and Lorain.

Created in 1989, the Water Pollution Control Loan Fund (WPCLF) provides below market interest rate loans for communities to improve their wastewater treatment systems. The reduced interest rate on the more than $345, 000 loan will save Sheffield Lake about $50, 000.

Along with improvements to publicly owned treatment works, WPCLF loans have been provided for agricultural best management practices, home sewage treatment system improvements, landfill closures and water quality-based storm water projects. The WPCLF provides technical assistance to public wastewater systems in a variety of areas from the planning, design and construction of improvements, to enhancing the technical managerial and financial capacity of these systems. WPCLF loans also make possible the restoration and protection of some of Ohio’s highest quality water bodies through the fund’s Water Resource Restoration Sponsor Program.

Ohio EPA’s revolving loan funds are partially supported by federal grants and designed to last indefinitely through repayment of loans and investments in bonds. The loan program is managed by Ohio EPA’s Division of Environmental and Financial Assistance, with help from the Ohio Water Development Authority. Ohio EPA is responsible for program development and implementation, individual project coordination, and environmental and other technical reviews/approvals of projects seeking funds. The Ohio Water Development Authority provides financial management of the fund. More information about the WPCLF is available at: www.epa.ohio.gov/defa/EnvironmentalandFinancialAssistance.aspx.

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency was created in 1972 to consolidate efforts to protect and improve air quality, water quality and waste management in Ohio. Since then, air pollutants dropped by as much as 90 percent; large rivers meeting standards improved from 21 percent to 89 percent; and hundreds of polluting, open dumps were replaced with engineered landfills and an increased emphasis on waste reduction and recycling.