Toho Water receives EPA loan to expand treatment facilities

The loan will benefit Polk and Osceola Counties

Toho Water Authority has been named the recipient of a $188.3 low-interest Environmental Protection Agency loan, which it will use to modernize water infrastructure in Polk and Osceola counties to help ensure a water supply it calls “resilient” to over 450,000 utility residents.

At a gathering Tuesday, Congressman Darren Soto (D-Kissimmee) and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Deputy Assistant Administrator for Water Mae Wu made the presentation to Toho Water officials.

The EPA’s Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act program will support Toho Water Authority’s One Water Program, which will ensure clean, safe drinking water in a region where continued growth increases the demand for clean water.

With this WIFIA loan, Toho Water officials say they plan to expand multiple water treatment facilities and install a series of water main and pump stations. This will reduce reliance on fresh groundwater by increasing the use of potable and non-potable water supplies.

Toho Water previously received a $40 million WIFIA grant to help finance the Kissimmee Accelerated Gravity and Sewer Assessment and Rehabilitation Project, which is nearing completion, Toho Water Authority CEO/Executive Director Todd Swingle said.