EGLE announces $20+ million in recent MI Clean Water grants to help Michigan communities upgrade water infrastructure

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Lead service line removal in Kingsford, upgraded water treatment facilities in Harrisville and lead service line identification in Decatur are among projects funded by $20,391,921 in Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) grants recently awarded to Michigan communities.

The MI Clean Water Plan grants, through EGLE’s Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF), Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF), Drinking Water Asset Management (DWAM) Program, and Substantial Public Health Risk Project (SPHRP) Program, aim to help communities ensure clean drinking water and manage wastewater to protect public health and Michigan’s natural resources.

Seventy percent of Michiganders are served by more than 1,000 community wastewater systems and 7.5 million get their drinking water from community water systems in Michigan. Those systems often struggle to find resources to address both legacy issues like aging drinking water and stormwater facilities, and emerging challenges like new standards for Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances  (PFAS) “forever chemicals.”

Traditionally, more than half of EGLE’s budget passes through to Michigan cities, towns, villages, and other local government agencies to finance critical improvements that help them better protect residents and our natural resources.

Grant roundup

Recent grants through DWSRF

  • City of Kingsford for $4,143,800. This project consists of replacement of approximately 13,000-feet of water main and approximately 244 lead and galvanized water service lines on both private and public property in the City of Kingsford’s Kingsford Heights neighborhood.

Recent grants through CWSRF

  • City of Harrisville for $10,605,000. This project involves improvements to the City of Harrisville’s wastewater facilities. These activities include removing and replacing the lagoon liners with geosynthetic clay and high-density polyethylene, selected sewer and manhole rehabilitation, and replacement of the Huron Street and Clark Road pump stations.
  • Great Lakes Water Authority for $2,342,280. The Great Lakes Water Authority Water Resource Recovery Facility Pump Station 1 improvements project consists of rehabilitating and rebuilding eight main lift pumps and motors, replacing valves and gates, new elbow flow meters, relocating electrical starters in a building addition, enhancing instrumentation and controls with a pump health monitor system, structural enrichments, mechanical plumbing, process piping to venturi meter vaults, and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning.
  • Forsyth Township for $375,000. This project is a sanitary sewer replacement along the M-35 corridor in Forsyth Township.
  • City of Burton for $295,000. Phase 3 sanitary sewer collection system improvements consisting of in-kind open cut replacement of approximately 733 feet of 8- to 12-inch diameter sanitary sewer, full length cured-in-place pipe lining of approximately 29,887 feet of 8- to 21-inch diameter sanitary sewer, and rehabilitation of an estimated 205 sanitary sewer manholes.

Recent grant through SPHRP

  • City of Caseville for $2,000,000. The City of Caseville’s wastewater collection system includes an 11,000-foot force main that carries all city wastewater to their lagoon system. The force main is actively leaking untreated sewage to the groundwater and putting surrounding water bodies, including Saginaw Bay and Lake Huron, at risk of contamination. This project includes replacement of the force main and upgrading outdated pump stations.

Recent grants through DWAM

  • Village of Decatur for $220,230. Field verification will be conducted for a minimum of 152 service lines out of their total of 788, based on Decatur’s knowledge of unknown service lines. In addition, Decatur’s drinking water asset management plan (AMP) will be updated based on a comprehensive asset inventory as well as other portions of the plan, including capital improvement planning and revenue structure development.
  • Ishpeming Township for $410,611. Field verification will be conducted for a minimum of 139 service lines out of their total of 1,017, based on Ishpeming Township’s knowledge of unknown service lines. Ishpeming Township will also update their drinking water AMP based on a comprehensive asset inventory as well as other portions of the plan, including condition assessment, water system criticality, level of service assessment, capital improvement plan, and revenue structure development.

Descriptions of funding sources

  • Drinking Water State Revolving Fund: Low-interest loan program to help public water systems finance the costs of replacement and repair of drinking water infrastructure to protect public health and achieve or maintain compliance with federal Safe Drinking Water Act requirements. The DWSRF provides loans to water systems for eligible infrastructure projects. As water systems repay their loans, the repayments and interest flow back into the DWSRF to support new loans. American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding operates as a grant and may be used in combination with loan dollars to reduce the financial burden on communities to pay for capital improvement debt.
    • ARPA funded grants awarded this fiscal year: $218,398,719.
  • Clean Water State Revolving Fund: Used by local municipalities to finance construction of water pollution control projects. These projects include wastewater treatment plant upgrades and expansions, combined or sanitary sewer overflow abatement, new sewers designed to reduce existing sources of pollution, and other publicly owned wastewater treatment efforts that improve water quality. The CWSRF can also finance stormwater infrastructure projects to reduce nonpoint sources of water pollution caused by things like agricultural runoff to lakes, streams, and wetlands. As with the DWSRF, ARPA funds can be used in conjunction with CWSRF loan dollars, thereby reducing the debt communities pay for infrastructure improvements.
    • ARPA-funded grants awarded this fiscal year: $137,982,009.
  • Drinking Water Asset Management (DWAM) Program: Provides grant funding to assist drinking water suppliers with asset management plan development and updates, and/or distribution system materials inventories as defined in Michigan’s revised Lead and Copper Rule.
    • Awarded this fiscal year: $19,695,817.
  • Consolidation and Contamination Risk Reduction (C2R2) Program: Established to provide assistance to drinking water systems to remove or reduce PFAS or other contaminants.
    • Awarded this fiscal year: $20,336,215.
  • Substantial Public Health Risk Project (SPHRP) Program: Protects public and environmental health by removing direct and continuous discharges of wastewater from surface or groundwater.
    • Awarded this fiscal year: $8,000,000.