State announces accelerated application process for next round of funding under the Water Infrastructure Improvement Act ~ Applications become available on February 3rd ~ Find out more

Elmira, N.Y., February 2--State Senator Tom O’Mara (R,C,I-Big Flats), chairman of the Senate Environmental Conservation Committee, today alerted localities across the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes regions that the state is undertaking an accelerated application process for the next round of funding under the Water Infrastructure Improvement Act of 2015.

O’Mara, who strongly supported and fought for the establishment of the grant program as part of the 2015-16 state budget, said, "It’s great news that the state is taking steps to distribute this vital funding to help localities statewide undertake these critical water infrastructure and quality projects as quickly as possible. I'm grateful to my legislative colleagues for pushing for this expedited application process, and we're appreciative of the governor's cooperation and support.  We're hopeful that ongoing state assistance will prove successful in helping localities undertake these critical projects, including sewer and pipeline repairs. We're also hopeful that it can represent a long-term model for how the state-local partnership can be strengthened for the good of local environments, local economies and local property taxpayers by helping municipalities meet critical infrastructure needs while remaining within the property tax cap."

This critical grant program seeks to provide badly needed assistance to localities throughout the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes regions, and statewide, to undertake both drinking water and wastewater infrastructure improvement projects, including sewer and pipeline repairs.

A total of $75 million will be available for the next round of funding.  Applications will become available on Wednesday, February 3, 2016.

See the attached announcement above from the state Environmental Facilities Corporation (EFC) for additional information, and visit the EFC website at www.efc.ny.gov.

The application deadline is April 15, 2016.  Municipalities with questions should e-mail NYSwatergrants@efc.ny.gov, or call EFC at 518-402-6924.

In addition to the grants, EFC and the state Department of Health (DOH) will offer either zero-percent or low- interest financing to communities to further reduce the cost of infrastructure projects. More information on these loans is available at: www.efc.ny.gov/CWSRF (for wastewater projects) and www.efc.ny.gov/DWSRF (for drinking water projects).