New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced more than $166 million is being awarded to 187 projects to improve water quality across the state.
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The grants support projects that will help protect drinking water, update aging water infrastructure, combat contributors to harmful algal blooms, and improve aquatic habitat in communities statewide.
More than $101 million of the funding will support water quality improvements for environmental justice communities, which have been disproportionately impacted by environmental pollution.
More than $146 million is being awarded today to 81 projects through the Water Quality Improvement Project (WQIP) grant program administered by the State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC).
The WQIP grant program supports projects that will directly improve water quality or aquatic habitat, promote flood risk reduction, restoration, and enhanced flood and climate resiliency, or protect a drinking water source.
An additional $2 million is being awarded to 35 projects through the Non-Agricultural Nonpoint Source Planning and Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System Mapping Grant (NPG) to fund projects that help pay for the initial planning of non-agricultural nonpoint source water quality improvement projects, such as undersized culvert replacements and green infrastructure technologies, and State permit-required storm sewer mapping in urban areas.
These projects will reduce the amount of polluted stormwater runoff entering lakes, rivers, and streams, and improve resiliency against the impacts of climate change.
The State is awarding $18 million through the Green Innovation Grant Program (GIGP) and Engineering Planning Grants (EPG) administered by the Environmental Facilities Corporation (EFC).
Of that, $15 million in GIGP will support projects that help mitigate the effects of climate change in environmental justice communities.
An additional $3 million in EPG will help 61 municipalities develop engineering reports to support their efforts to better leverage state and federal funding and advance fiscally sound and well-designed projects to construction.
EFC also announced today that it is removing the 300,000-population threshold as part of the hardship financing eligibility criteria. ■