Loyal Mayor Floyd Glazier Jr. reports that the town has been selected to receive a grant to install a nitrate filtration system in its water supply.

The Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality (ODEQ) announced a $612,000 grant.

No date has been announced for the installation.

Glazier said he understood that the Loyal system will be used as a pilot program for other state communities having water with high nitrate content.

The national Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) provided the following background on its site in an essay entitled “Addressing Nitrate in Drinking Water With the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF): BACKGROUND

Nutrient pollution can negatively impact vital drinking water sources.

Fertilizer is a primary sourceofnitrogenandphosphorus and often reaches surface and groundwater systems through farm or urban-suburban runoff or infiltration.

Other sources of nitrate in drinking water include leaking septic tanks or sewage and erosion of natural deposits.

Infants below the age of six months who drink water containing nitrate in excess of the maximum contaminant level (10 mg/L) could become seriously ill.

NITRATE TREATMENT TECHNOLOGIES

There are several effective treatment technologies available for nitrate removal in drinking water including ion exchange, reverse osmosis, and electrodialysis. (The system planned for Loyal was not announced.)

Ion exchange resins are like tiny magnets that attract and hold the nitrate from passing through the water treatment system.

Reverse osmosis is a water purification method that forces the nitrate-contaminated water through a semi-permeable membrane that nitrate cannot pass through.

Electrodialysis uses a direct electric current to migrate ions through membranes, where it traps the nitrate.

DWSRF ASSISTANCE

The DWSRF can provide financial assistance to publicly owned and privately owned community water systems, as well as non-profit non-community water systems, for drinking water infrastructure projects.

Projects must either facilitate the system’s compliance with national primary drinking water regulations or significantly further the health protection objectives of the SDWA.

Each of the 50 states and Puerto Rico operates its own DWSRF program.

They receive annual capitalization grants from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which in turn provide low-interest loans and other types of assistance to water systems.

Repayments of DWSRF loans begin up to 18 months after project completion, with loan terms up to 30 years for most communities, or up to 40 years for disadvantaged communities.

The Oklahoma Water Resources Board website reports that Rural Economic Action Plan grants are available for cities and towns for less than 7,000 population and towns under 1,750 will have a higher priority.

Loyal’s population is listed at 125 with a population growth of 48.1% since 2020.

The Lomega Elementary School is located within the town borders with Lomega High School located to the South in the Omega community.