The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently announced the New Mexico Environment Department and the New Mexico Finance Authority will receive more than $26 million in funding for water infrastructure improvements.
According to a Sept. 30 news release, James Kenney, the secretary of the New Mexico Environment Department, accepted a ceremonial check from EPA Regional Administrator Dr. Earthea Nance at a gathering in Santa Fe on behalf of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.
“Water is an essential right for all individuals and is critical for community growth,” Regional Administrator Dr. Earthea Nance said in the release. “Through this funding, and working with state partners, the EPA continues to make significant clean water advancements for communities in New Mexico. The EPA remains committed to modernizing water infrastructure to improve public health and the environment, including assisting vulnerable communities.”
“We worked diligently to ensure that New Mexico quickly received our share of infrastructure funding so that we can begin to put it to use as soon as possible,” Grisham said, according to the release. “The people of New Mexico will have more access to quality drinking water and healthy watersheds thanks to our successful efforts to leverage these unprecedented federal investments. I thank the members of New Mexico’s congressional delegation for their work to deliver this important funding for our state.”
Funding for this grant will come by way of the Biden-Harris administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law which allocated more than $50 billion for improvements and repairs to the nation’s essential water infrastructure, the release reported.
