April 11, 2022 Group Watch: $225M in ARPA Funds to Go to Water & Sewer Projects
Gov. Kay Ivey recently announced that $225 million in COVID-19 pandemic relief funds has been provided for statewide water and sewer infrastructure improvements. The agreement signed between the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) and the Alabama Department of Finance states that ADEM will distribute grants to qualifying public water and sewer systems for the purpose of improving access to clean water and sewer infrastructure projects and the economic impact thereof. The following is a breakdown of how the $225 million in grants will be utilized:
- $120 million for grants to public water or sewer systems with previously identified emergency or high-need projects and do not require a local match
- $100 million for grants to public water and sewer systems that may require local matching funds based on their ability to pay
- $5 million for grants to demonstration projects in the Black Belt to address sewage disposal problems prevalent in rural, low-population-density areas where poor soil conditions prevent wastewater from septic systems from being absorbed into the ground.
Approximately one-third of the state’s 1,061 water and sewer systems have already applied for grants.
