NORWAY – Part of the funding expected for summer construction programs was realized Friday when Sen. Olympia J. Snowe, R-Maine, announced that Norway will receive a $430,000 federal loan and $200,000 federal grant.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is providing the funding, which will be used to replace 2,130 linear feet of clay pipe and a large drainage structure.

The work will occur on Lake Road, Main Street, Beal Street and Pine Street, said Town Manager David Holt, as part of $2.5 million in construction projects.

Funding for the projects comes in part from the Department of Transportation, the Norway Water District, federal and state loans, grants and the town.

“We’ve been working on this for about a year,” Holt said. “And we’re doing good things here.”

Holt said some of the grant and loan money will help low- and middle-income people who are going to have to hook up to the new sewer lines.

He said the new system is going to help keep the storm water from running into the sewer water, improve the water quality in the Little Androscoggin River and improve the storm lagoons.

“This funding will specifically be used to replace one of the oldest segments of the drainage system that was installed in 1913,” Snowe said. “Combined sewer overflow can cause serious problems for a community and I have been working to eliminate these untreated or partially-treated discharges from our water systems. In order to accomplish this goal, we must have the proper infrastructure in place.”

Snowe and former Sen. Bob Smith, an independent from New Hampshire, wrote the Combined Sewer Overflow Control and Partnership Act, signed into law in 2000.

This law seeks to eliminate or appropriately control, combined sewer overflow discharges in the U.S. by 2010. Under this law, more than 53 communities in Maine will be eligible for economic relief. Snowe’s office estimates that there are an estimated 1,000 communities nationwide that face similar problems.

jsmedley@sunjournal.com

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