Miami-Dade gets $235 million EPA loan to upgrade sewage plants and cut ocean outfalls
Miami-Dade County has received a $235 million loan from the federal government to help fix its troubled sewer system, which is plagued by leaking pipes that often spill untreated wastewater into Biscayne Bay, beaches and waterways.
The county is under a $1.6 billion federal court order issued in 2014 to replace pipes and treatment plants. It’s also under a 2008 state order requiring it to stop sending wastewater into the ocean. The price tag on that was about $5.7 billion as of the county’s last budget.
But the projects under the consent order are now expected to cost about $1.8 billion, counting new pump stations, pipes and other infrastructure upgrades, according to the latest estimates by the county’s Water and Sewer Department.
The Environmental Protection Agency’s new low-interest loan adds to two other financing lines under the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act, or WIFIA. The county received $660 million in total, the agency said in a statement Thursday.
In 2008, the Florida Legislature approved a law requiring Miami-Dade to stop using ocean outfalls to dispose of treated wastewater and to reuse 60 percent of wastewater by 2025.
The federal consent agreement was years in the making as regulators accused Miami-Dade of violating pollution laws, including the Clean Water Act, by letting untreated sewage spill from its ruptured pipes and crumbling pump stations. As part of the order, Miami-Dade is required to meet deadlines for a series of infrastructure projects or face fines.
The financing under the EPA program will be used in upgrades at the Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department’s three wastewater treatment plants to add capacity and reinforce structures to deal with severe weather events, the statement said.
