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EPA Provides $340 Million to New York to Make Sewage Treatment Plants and Drinking Water Systems Damaged by Sandy More Resilient

Release Date: 10/01/2014
Contact Information: John Martin, (212) 637-3662, [email protected]

(New York, N.Y.) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded $340 million to the State of New York for improvements to wastewater and drinking water treatment facilities impacted by Hurricane Sandy. The funds will be used on projects that reduce the risks of flood damage and that increase the resiliency of wastewater and drinking water facilities to withstand the effects of severe storms.

“This EPA funding will help make New York wastewater and drinking water plants more resilient,” said EPA Regional Administrator Judith A. Enck. “With climate change, the frequency of severe storms is likely to increase, and wastewater treatment and drinking water plant failures become a serious threat to people’s health and the environment. These funds will help ensure that the basic infrastructure needed to protect people’s health are operating even during severe storms.”

These funds, which were authorized by Congress in the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act of 2013, were granted to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and the New York State Department of Health (DOH). The DEC and DOH will provide the funds to local communities as low or no interest loans that will be paid back to New York. Up to 30 percent of the federal money being provided can be awarded as grants to communities rather than as loans.

The New York State Environmental Facilities Corporation (EFC) and DOH have identified projects that are eligible for funding by using project priority ranking systems that are based on requirements in the Clean Water Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act and state regulations. The highest rankings were given to projects that have the greatest impact on protecting water quality and protecting drinking water for the most people. The EFC and DOH selected the proposed projects and submitted Intended Use Plans that included their recommended projects to the EPA for review. The state also accepted public comments on its Intended Use Plans. The EPA has approved those plans and awarded the $340 million to the DEC and DOH. New York’s Intended Use Plans list projects that may be funded following the submission of complete applications that are due December 1. These projects include such projects as the construction of a new ocean outfall at the Bergen Point Wastewater Treatment Plant in Suffolk County, sewer rehabilitation the City of Newburgh, and measures to fortify and flood proof critical equipment at the Jamaica Bay Sewage Treatment Plant in New York City.

For a list of New York projects that are eligible to receive this funding, see: http://efc.ny.gov/SMLP

For more information on the Clean Water State Revolving Fund program, visit http://water.epa.gov/grants_funding/cwsrf/cwsrf_index.cfm

For information on the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund program visit https://www.epa.gov/safewater/dwsrf/

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