PARIS – In a ceremony Tuesday afternoon, the Paris Utility District received an oversize check for $8 million and an environmental stewardship award.

Michael Aube, state director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development efforts, presented the check to Peter Bickford, chairman of the district’s board of trustees. According to a statement from USDA Rural Development, the funds are one of two Earth Day projects approved in Maine.

Aube commented that the unpredictable weather in Maine made June a better month to celebrate Earth Day than April.

“We’ve got plenty to do with this,” said Steve Arnold, utility manager for the district. Arnold spoke Monday night at a public hearing on a separate grant for $500,000.

The money will be used to update a wastewater treatment facility on C.N. Brown Way. The first phase will upgrade the headworks, which remove debris from wastewater before it enters the plant. The second phase will update the plant itself, which was built in 1975. Arnold said the district will decide at that point whether a third phase is necessary.

“Essentially, we’re upgrading the whole thing from top to bottom,” Arnold said.

The $8 million grant will be allocated to both phases of the project, which is estimated to cost $9.8 million. The headworks will require an estimated $1.8 million of work, of which $810,000 will be by grant and $990,000 by loan. The second phase will cost approximately $8 million.

“They’re programs that really help build community,” said Aube of the Rural Development projects. He also recognized the assistance of Maine Republican Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, who were represented at the ceremony by Brian D. Whitney and Carlene Tremblay, respectively.

In addition to the Rural Development funds, the town approved the district’s application for a $500,000 community development block grant at a special town meeting held Monday evening. Arnold said the grant money has been set aside by the Office of Community Development for the district’s use, and will be available once the necessary forms are in.

Arnold said the $500,000 grant will be utilized in the headworks upgrade.

Aube also recognized the district as a USDA Rural Development Environmental Steward for its efforts to keep the Little Androscoggin River clean. Arnold said that according to Maine Department of Environmental standards, the river is rated Class C, while the effluent discharged into the river is rated Class B.

Maine’s water classification program was created in 1986, establishing four rankings for water quality from Class AA to C. Class C establishes the state’s minimum environmental goals of maintaining the resident biological community.

Arnold said the higher quality discharge helps to decrease the river’s temperature and increase its levels of dissolved oxygen.

“In the big picture, we’re a benefit to the river,” he said.