EPA Announces $123 Million WIFIA Loan to Lake Oswego for the Project

On September 9, 2025, the City of Lake Oswego closed (executed) a $123 million loan from the US Environmental Protection Agency for the Wastewater Treatment Facility project through the Water Infrastructure Finance & Innovation Act (WIFIA) program.

EPA’s announcement shared: “This project will help the city modernize its wastewater infrastructure by constructing a new wastewater treatment facility to replace its existing 60-year-old plant. The new facility will be compliant with current structural code, mitigating impacts from seismic activity. Overall, this project improves the city’s wastewater services and reduces the risk of untreated wastewater spilling into the Willamette River.”

“Deferring principal payments for five years allows the City of Lake Oswego to more slowly and uniformly raise customer sewer rates, compared to a larger and more immediate rate increase of approximately 20 percent without WIFIA financing.”

Read the EPA announcement and factsheet.

Request for Proposals for Designing, Building, Operating and Maintaining New Facility

The City of Lake Oswego has issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) to provide integrated design, construction, and long-term operations and maintenance services for the new wastewater treatment facility and associated infrastructure to replace the current Tryon Creek plant.

WIFIA Loan Authorization

On August 5th, the Lake Oswego City Council authorized a loan through the Environmental Protection Agency’s Water Infrastructure Finance & Innovation Act (WIFIA) program. A link to the Council Report is here.  This loan provides flexibility to the project’s funding portfolio which also includes utility revenue, cost share payments from the City of Portland, System Development Charges (SDCs), and traditional municipal bonds. The WIFIA loan provides benefits that enable utility rate stability, which has been a point of emphasis for this project.

Learn more about the WIFIA program here.

Next Steps

Once a proposal is selected later this year, the project team plans to hold a meeting to share the final designs with the community and continue land use permitting. Demolition and preliminary construction are expected to start in 2026.

In October 2024, the City solicited Statements of Qualifications from qualified entities for designing, building, operating and maintaining (DBOM) the new wastewater treatment facility, the first step of a two-step procurement. Later this spring, the City intends to issue a Request for Proposals (RFP, step two) which will include pricing for designing and constructing the new facility as well as long term operations and maintenance.

Once a firm is selected, the project team plans to hold a meeting to share the final designs with the community and continue land use permitting. Demolition and preliminary construction are expected to start in 2026.

The City of Lake Oswego is inviting qualified entities to submit a Statement of Qualifications to provide integrated design, construction, and long-term operations and maintenance services for the new wastewater treatment facility and associated infrastructure to replace the current Tryon Creek plant.

To download the full Request for Qualifications and receive all notifications, addenda, view the RFQ Holders List, etc., a person or company must register and add its individual name or company to the RFQ Holders List here.

Proposals shall be submitted by electronic means only and must be received by October 11, 2024, 2:00 PM PST. To submit electronic (PDF) Proposals, a proposer must accurately complete the required fields and upload their proposal document here.

Status of the Project

Over the last couple months, the project team has been evaluating alternative competitive procurement delivery methods for implementing the next phase of the project. The team is recommending going ahead with the Design-Build-Operate-Maintain (DBOM) delivery method and will be updating City Council at the May 7, 2024 meeting.

If City Council approves of this method, the next step would be to draft and advertise a Request for Qualifications in the coming months.

Upcoming Council Meeting 5/7

On Tuesday, May 7, 2024 at 5:30 pm, Lake Oswego City Council will hold a public hearing and consider two resolutions related to the project:

• Resolution 24-19, approving an amendment to Resolution 18-55 and authorizing a special procurement to enter into a DBOM contract for the new wastewater treatment facility, and
• Resolution 24-18, approving a special procurement for owner’s advisor services related to the DBOM phase and authorizing a contract with Carollo Engineering, Inc.

Here is a link to the council report and the agenda. You can view this meeting livestreamed on the City’s YouTube channel.