The City received notification last week that its request for modification to a $2 million grant, awarded one year ago, was officially approved by the Oklahoma Water Resources Board.
In January 2023, the City was awarded a $2 million grant through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), administered by the OWRB, for the Chickasaw Wastewater Treatment Plant Expansion. The grant was conditioned that all funds must be spent by December 2026 and required the City to match the grant dollar for dollar.
“However, the application designated this grant towards the construction of the project, which, unfortunately, would not be complete by the deadline,” said Water Utilities Director Terry Lauritsen.
Last month, City staff submitted an official request to change the scope of the grant to instead apply to the engineering/pre-construction portion of the project, which is anticipated to cost around $4.3 million.
The OWRB approved the City’s scope change request during its Feb. 20 meeting.
“We are grateful to the OWRB for recognizing the importance of this project, and for approving this critical change request which will allow us to be able to utilize the entire grant prior to the deadline,” said Lauritsen.
The $65-million Chickasaw Wastewater Treatment Plant Expansion project is required by the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality to increase capacity of the plant and to eventually implement water reuse (once it is permitted by ODEQ).
“Our City works consistently and diligently to manage our systems to provide the best services at the lowest cost,” said Mayor Dale Copeland. “Finding, applying for and receiving such grants does not just happen. Time and considerable efforts are required to achieve this type of success.”
Read more about the wastewater treatment plant expansion project HERE.