The city of Englewood and Northern Water, which serves eight northeastern Colorado counties, have submitted letters of interest to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to receive funding through a water infrastructure loan program.

“President Trump in October signed an Executive Order to speed progress on water infrastructure and EPA will continue using the highly effective [Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act] program to help address community needs and protect public health,” said Administrator Andrew Wheeler.

Requests this year from across the country amounted to $9.2 billion for the $5 billion the EPA is able to provide in loans. The program, which began in 2017, has received a total of $30 billion in requests.

Englewood requested financial assistance for the One Water Modernization Program, which will improve drinking water and wastewater treatment infrastructure by replacing electrical and control systems, expediting lead pipe replacement and modernizing the metering procedure. There will also be a new wastewater pilot and research center, as well as a water reuse project.

Northern Water sought funding for the Northern Integrated Supply project, a regional storage and distribution initiative to provide 40,000 acre-feet of new water to Front Ranger providers. The utility serves Boulder, Broomfield, Larimer, Logan, Morgan, Sedgwick, Washington and Weld counties.