Lawton approved for loan to finance waterline upgrades

OKLAHOMA CITY – A loan the City of Lawton will use to finance a major waterline project in north Lawton was approved this week by the Oklahoma Water Resources Board.

OWRB approved a $29 million loan from its Oklahoma Drinking Water State Revolving Fund for the Lawton Water Authority, a function of the City Council. The funding is designated to cover the cost of replacing 131,000 feet of waterline to mitigate breaks and leaks from its aging infrastructure. Waterlines, hydrant systems, service lines and other appurtenances will be replaced, which city officials say will improve reliability and lower operation costs.

City officials already had proceeded with the project, with the City Council voting in June to award an $11,347,737 contract to Southwest Water Works for 131,000 feet of 6-inch, 8-inch and 12-inch waterline in an area north of Lincoln Avenue, between Fort Sill Boulevard and North Sheridan Road. To facilitate the project, the Lawton Water Authority/City Council agreed to use the loan to reimburse funds taken from the 2019 Capital Improvements Program to finance the work, so upgrades could begin.

Public Utilities Director Rusty Whisenhunt said the city was expecting approval of the revolving loan fund this summer, but city administrators wanted to award the project in June because Southwest Water Works already was in Lawton completing another project and could move right into the new project. Whisenhunt said delaying the award would mean the construction company would pull out of Lawton to work on a project in another city, and Lawton would have to wait until crews were available again to launch the new project.

Whisenhunt said the project is the second phase of the City of Lawton’s project.

“The first phase focused on replacing 25 miles of lines and we are now ready to break ground on replacing the next 25 miles,” he told OWRB.

Joe Freeman, chief of the OWRB’s financial assistance division, calculated the authority’s customers will save an estimated $4,438,300 over the life of the 30-year loan, compared to traditional financing. The loan will be secured with a lien on the revenues of the authority’s water, sewer and sanitation systems, the traditional method for such loans.