News

State officials today announced the reallocation of more than $4 million in economic recovery funding to five communities for wastewater and drinking water infrastructure projects as a part of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act awards. This funding allocation was originally earmarked for other projects but became available when final project costs were less than original estimates.
 
The new wastewater infrastructure improvement project slated to benefit from ARRA funding – administered by the Division of Water Quality – is an additional “green” project of about $1.3 million to the city of Charlotte for the Wilora Lake restoration project. Rehabilitation of Wilora Lake will consist of construction of a new dam and spillway, creation of two reservoir openings and a shallow rim for aquatic habitat and erosion control, riparian plantings and replacement of approximately 586 linear feet of 8-inch sanitary sewer.

Recent ARRA awards to drinking water infrastructure projects, administered by the Division of Environmental Health, include:

• $310,000 to the town of Princeville for a green project to replace conventional water meters with automated water meters.
• $355,000 to the town of Maysville for improvements to its water treatment plant.
• $239,700 to the town of Sawmills to replace 3,400 linear feet of asbestos cement pipe with PVC to prevent water loss, low press and frequent system failure.
• $2.2 million to the town of Blowing Rock for construction of a 4.9 mile interconnection with the town of Boone to address water shortages during the recent drought.

Project awards are not final until the Local Government Commission approves the recipient’s financial qualifications and all ARRA and other federal requirements have been met. Funds will be awarded as 50 percent zero-interest loans and 50 percent principal forgiveness loans. All drinking water and wastewater infrastructure ARRA projects must be under contract by Feb. 17, 2010. 

The Division of Water Quality’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund Program received an ARRA grant of $70.7 million to fund wastewater system improvements throughout the state. The Division of Environmental Health’s Drinking Water State Revolving Fund Program received an ARRA grant of $65.6 million to fund public drinking water infrastructure improvements throughout the state.

For additional information on wastewater and drinking water infrastructure project funding and criteria – along with other types of economic recovery projects administered by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources – please visit http://portal.ncdenr.org/web/arra/home. Information about federal recovery funding throughout North Carolina can be found at www.ncrecovery.gov.