Elkhart celebrates completion of $32M wastewater treatment plant expansion
ELKHART, Ind. -- The City of Elkhart held a ribbon-cutting Tuesday morning to celebrate the $32 million expansion of the Elkhart Wastewater Plant at 1201 S Nappanee St.
The project expands the plant's ability to filter wastewater, treat additional wet weather flow, and protect the health of Elkhart's rivers, according to city officials.
The city closed on a low-interest loan for over $32 million in funds for improvements on the city’s wastewater treatment systems in 2021.
Daragh Degan, Water Quality Manager for Elkhart, said, "The river is really important for Elkhart in general. Like the river is important for the Michiana community. It flows through Elkhart, Mishawaka, and South Bend, and we built our communities around it. It's got like historical significance in the fact that, like, we colonized the area and built our communities around the river, and it's a means for essentially managing the water on the landscape, and so it's also a really important asset from a quality-of-life perspective. So having clean water a healthy river, and having people recreate on the river and see that it's attractive and healthy and clean as really important for our residents. "
The funds came through the Indiana Finance Authority’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund Loan Program, which receives joint funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the State of Indiana.
"So, for us to go from 40 million gallons a day of treatment to 60 million gallons a day of treatment is amazing. And for us to be able to put this new filtration system in which, quite frankly, I'd love to be able to get in the weeds on, but I can't absolutely do that. For us to be able to do that as well and be the be one of three cities with this type of filtration system in the state is an amazing testament to the work that has been done in this facility by all of the staff out here and by our council, who was in the in the audience as well," said Elkhart Mayor Rod Roberson.