The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced the availability of nearly $1,169,000 for Florida through the Sewer Overflow and Stormwater Reuse Municipal Grant program. This funding aims to assist communities in addressing stormwater and sewer infrastructure needs. The safe management of stormwater is crucial to prevent contaminants, including untreated sewage, from polluting waterways.
EPA’s grant funding is available to states to support projects in cities and towns that will bolster their stormwater collection systems against increasingly intense rain events exacerbated by the climate crisis.
“Our nation’s waterways are vital to healthy communities. They provide sources of drinking water, support farming, power economic opportunity, and give us opportunities to swim and to fish," said EPA Acting Assistant Administrator for Water Bruno Pigott. "Keeping our waterways clean and safe is essential, and stormwater runoff is one of the biggest pollution challenges facing our water ecosystems.”
Pigott further added that under President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, EPA is making grant funds available for stormwater solutions which do not have to be paid back, thus proving particularly effective in helping disadvantaged communities protect their waterways.
Jeaneanne M. Gettle, Acting Region 4 Administrator also emphasized on the significance of this initiative stating that sewer overflows can cause substantial health and environmental problems in communities. This historic grant funding for stormwater and sewer upgrades will encourage better health for people and the environment.
When rain and floodwaters overrun combined sewer and stormwater systems, they bypass treatment and transport pollution and sewage directly into creeks, streams, and rivers. These untreated discharges threaten human health, economic prosperity, and ecological function.
Additional funding for stormwater and wastewater upgrades is available through President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and EPA’s Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) program.
These programs advance President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative which sets a goal that 40 percent of the overall benefits of certain federal climate, clean energy, affordable and sustainable housing, and other investments flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution.
Stormwater can be a significant source of water pollution and a public health concern. EPA is working with local and state partners to leverage the resources of the federal government to meet the needs of these communities.
To encourage investment in these critical projects, EPA modified the Sewer Overflow and Stormwater Reuse Municipal Grant program so that state grantees are not required to contribute cost share money for projects located in rural or financially distressed communities. However, grant portions that go to communities other than rural or financially distressed communities will include a cost share requirement.
