ERIE - Federal and state officials have awarded $3,534,700 in zero- and low-interest loans to the town of Erie to fund a nonpotable water pump station project.

The funds, coming through the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act and the Colorado Water Resources and Power Development Authority, include a $2 million, 20-year, 0 percent loan and a $1,534,700, 20-year, 2 percent loan.

Town officials said they will save $1.6 million over the course of the 20 years with the favorable interest rates.

The new pump station will treat wastewater to provide a nonpotable, or a nondrinkable, supply of water that is safe and suitable for uses such as landscape irrigation. The use of reclaimed water is included in the Erie's Water Conservation Plan and is seen as an environmentally responsible way to conserve scarce and expensive water supplies.

The water will be used to irrigate town parks and, as per a development agreement, portions of the Colorado National Golf Club. The new North Water Reclamation Facility is set to break ground later in 2009. It will include a 1,000-acre-foot reservoir to accommodate reclaimed water storage for the pump station.

In other funding news, Erie received $433,000 from the Denver Regional Council of Governments to add bike lanes along County Line Road. The paved lanes will run along the east and west sides of the road from Austin Avenue to the south town limits. These funds also originated through the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act, along with the formerly announced $733,000 to fund the addition of paved bike lanes on the north and south sides of Erie Parkway from Bonanza Drive east to the Interstate 25 interchange.