Skagit County will be able to continue providing low-interest loans for septic system repairs and can update its shoreline regulations as a result of two monetary awards from the state Department of Ecology.

Ecology will provide up to $2 million in loan money that the county can lend to property owners who need to repair or replace failing septic systems. The award continues a program that has loaned between $5 and $6 million since 1994 and has helped fix about 100 failing septic systems annually in recent years.

The contract between the state and the county to extend the program will be signed by January. Ecology funds the loan program to promote cleaner water and healthy shellfish harvest areas in the county.

The county also learned this spring that it will receive $650,000 to update its shoreline master program. The funding and the work would begin in mid-2010, according to Ecology’s award letter. The county is required to complete the update by the end of 2012.

Betsy Stevenson, a county planner who announced both state awards at a county commissioners’ meeting Tuesday, said she hoped the grant for the shoreline update would be enough to get the work done. The planning department’s budget has been stretched thin by recent cuts.

“I think we need to (complete the work with the grant money). I don’t know where else the money is going to come from,” Stevenson said in an interview.

The shoreline master program establishes regulations for development on coastal waters and along rivers. Once the update begins, the county will assess the ecological condition of shoreline areas and identify some areas that could qualify for restoration work, Stevenson said.

n Ralph Schwartz can be reached at 360-416-2138 or .