Press Release

Consolidated Rural Water District No. 9, McIntosh County (District) received approval for $695,000 in funding Tuesday from the Oklahoma Water Resources Board (OWRB) to improve the District’s water infrastructure.  Construction of upgrades and improvements to the water system will be financed by the Oklahoma Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) where $300,000 of the loan will be in the form of loan forgiveness.

The District will utilize the proceeds to construct two chlorine booster stations and for improvements to their storage tank. Disinfecting drinking water has reduced waterborne disease drastically. However, byproducts which may result by the disinfection can sometimes have unintended effects. Therefore, by addressing this issue, this project helps to meet the public health goals for the state.

Joe Freeman, chief of the OWRB’s Financial Assistance Division, calculated that the District’s customers will save an estimated $574,900 over the life of the 20-year loan compared to traditional financing.  The DWSRF loan will be secured with a lien on the revenues of the District’s water system and a mortgage. 

The DWSRF program is administered by the OWRB and the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality (ODEQ) with partial funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  The DWSRF program has provided approximately $2 billion in drinking water loans to provide communities the resources necessary to maintain and improve the infrastructure that protects our valuable water resources statewide.

Since 1983, the Oklahoma Water Resources Board has approved over $5.7 billion in loans and grants for water and wastewater infrastructure improvements throughout Oklahoma.

Julie Cunningham, Executive Director of the OWRB, and Scott Thompson, Executive Director of the ODEQ, express their sincere appreciation to State Senator Roger Thompson and Representatives Avery Frix, Randy Randleman, and David Smith for their support of the DWSRF program.