Federal funds will help Coggon build new water treatment plant

Coggon will receive more than $4 million in federal assistance for the construction of a new wastewater treatment plant, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced this week.

'This is a real windfall for the community. We are really happy about it,” Mayor Dan Huber said Wednesday.

The Linn County city of 655 residents will get a $1.89 million grant and a $2.3 million loan under the USDA Water and Environmental Program, the agency said.

The USDA said the money will help Coggon meet new pollutant standards and eliminate manual cleaning. Without the new system, waters downstream from the plant could become contaminated, potentially harming human health and the environment, the USDA said.

Huber said the city's engineering firm is completing its final proposal for Iowa Department of Natural Resources approval. 'We're hoping to break ground this fall,” he said.

Huber said the city's current plant was built more than 60 years ago with an anticipated life span of 40 years.

'It was just time to replace it,” he said.

The new plant, he said, will be a sequencing batch reactor, a type of activated sludge process that will greatly reduce organic matter before water is discharged into Buffalo Creek.

It will benefit the environment, and the grant will help control rising costs for utility services, Huber said.

'If we did not have this grant, the new facility would have a huge impact on rates,” he said.

Huber commended City Council member Ray Archibald for spearheading communication with the USDA during the loan and grant application process.

The Coggon grant and loan are part of $183 million the USDA is investing in 60 water and wastewater infrastructure projects through Rural Development's Water and Environmental Program, which provides technical assistance and financing to develop drinking water and waste disposal systems for communities with fewer than 10,000 residents.

'Safe drinking water and sanitary waste disposal systems are vital not only to public health, but also to the economic vitality of small communities,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said.

Building and maintaining water infrastructure creates jobs, boosts the economy and provides rural families with safe, reliable water and wastewater facilities that improve the environment, he said.