NEW BERLIN — In a recent news release, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) rural Development (RD) highlighted the Village of New Berlin’s award to support the on-going drinking water upgrade project with a combination of $7.4 million loan funding and $1.5 million in grants.

“The cited project is designed to ensure the continued reliable and safe delivery of quality drinking water to village residents through a modernized and more capable infrastructure,” said Village of New Berlin Mayor Peter Lennon.

“Four key elements of the network will be addressed; supply, treatment, storage and distribution,” Lennon said.

“As a result of several thousand feet of new, larger diameter distribution lines, the village will also be brought into compliance with modern, state-mandated fire-fighting flow standards,” he added.

Lennon explained the New Berlin Village Board is currently working with bond counsel Hodgson and Russ, the fiscal advisory firm of fiscal advisors, and its engineering firm Barton & Loguidice, to create a fiscally-responsible debt-service strategy for repayment of the loan portion of these funding instruments, as the project moves from the planning stage to the design phase.