March 21, 2019 500 AM
OJIINAGA, Chih., Mex.- A public meeting was held Tuesday to present the technical, social and health attributes of a proposed project to rehabilitate the wastewater collection system in downtown Ojinaga, Chihuahua, according to a North American Development Bank (NADB) news release. The meeting was conducted by the president of the Citizens Committee, Domingo Levario, along with representatives of NADB.
To finance part of the project costs, the local water utility and project sponsor, Junta Municipal de Agua y Saneamiento de Ojinaga (JMAS), has requested a grant from the Border Environment Infrastructure Fund (BEIF), which is funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and administered by NADB.
In order to be considered for grant financing from NADB, projects must go through a certification process that includes public participation to ensure that the population impacted has been informed of the expected effects and benefits of projects under consideration in their community.
During the meeting, it was reported that the wastewater collections system in the downtown area of the city has reached the end of its useful life, which has led to wastewater spills and contamination of surface and groundwater in the community, which is directly across the border from the city of Presidio, Texas.
To address this situation, JMAS has proposed a project to rehabilitate the wastewater collection system in downtown Ojinaga, which consists of replacing almost 44 kilometers (27 miles) of sewer lines and improving 988 residential connections that collect 15.4 liters per second (351,500 gallons per day) of wastewater. The project is estimated to cost 29.4 million pesos and will directly benefit 4,752 residents.
NADB already has provided grants through the EPA-funded Project Development Assistance Program (PDAP) to support the development of a transboundary environmental study and to complete the final design of the project.
NADB is currently reviewing the financial structure of the proposed project and in the next few weeks will define the amount of the proposed BEIF grant, to be submitted to EPA for approval and matched with funding from federal and local sources in Mexico. This information will subsequently be made available to JMAS.
To date, NADB has provided $3.65 million in loans and grants to help Ojinaga finance a municipal solid waste project and a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), as well as more than $546,000 in technical assistance for the development of the final design of the WWTP and a Master Water and Wastewater Plan.
NADB is a financial institution established and capitalized in equal parts by the United States and Mexico for the purpose of financing environmental infrastructure projects along their common border. As a pioneer institution in its field, the Bank is working to develop environmentally and financially sustainable projects with broad community support in a framework of close cooperation and coordination between Mexico and the United States.
