Gov. Pat Quinn awarded the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD) with a $250 million low-interest loan on Monday. The money will be used to move forward with various projects and update the region’s water infrastructure, clean up area-rivers and improve public health, according to a press release issued by the governor’s office.
Some of the money will go toward purchasing disinfection equipment to treat out-flowing water at MWRD’s O’Brien Water Reclamation Plant in Skokie.
“The nutrient removal projects are aimed at resource recovery with a return on investment for our taxpayers,” MWRD Board President Kathleen Therese Meany said in a press release. “These processes are on the cutting edge of treatment technology and will transform the wastewater industry into a resource recovery enterprise.”
The MWRD was able to receive the loan through the governor’s Illinois Clean Water Initiative.
Through various projects, the loan will create 2,000 construction-related jobs and support an additional 8,000 jobs in local communities, according to the press release.
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