By the Daily World staff, Aberdeen Daily World ,
The city of Aberdeen is one step closer to a $3.9 million rural development loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for a new water filtration plant.
The City Council approved a letter of conditions for the USDA's Rural Development Administration loan at Wednesday's meeting.
City staffers are confident that the loan will be finalized within the next couple months, bringing the total amount of money the city has received from state and federal sources up to the $13 million needed to build the plant.
For now, however, construction on parts of the filtration plant is on hold as the city sorts out a conflict with the state Department of Ecology over a release of silty water from the Malinowski Dam.
City Attorney Eric Nelson said Aberdeen scored a coup with an agreement in the letter that the USDA would not impose any more restrictions on building in wetlands and flood plains.
"I don't know that they've done this for anybody else," the attorney said.