News Release: $9.5 Million Awarded to 18 Communities to Help Improve Water Supply System Infrastructure

News Release: $9.5 Million Awarded to 18 Communities to Help Improve Water Supply System Infrastructure

08/02/2018

For Immediate Release:
August 2, 2018
 
Contact: 
Sonya Butler, Drinking Water and Municipal Assistance, butlers2@michigan.gov, 517-284-5433
Tiffany Brown, MDEQ Public Information Officer, brownt22@michigan.gov, 517-284-6716

$9.5 Million Awarded to 18 Communities to Help Improve Water Supply System Infrastructure

LANSING, MI. The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) Drinking Water and Municipal Assistance Division (DWMAD) is providing $9.5 million in grants to 18 communities across the state as part of a pilot program to improve water supply system infrastructure to help protect water quality and public health.

A mix of small, medium and large communities, 18 in total, located throughout the state were invited to apply for funding. The status of their asset management plan, the number of service connections and lead service lines, childhood blood lead levels and their ability to quickly execute pilot funds were some of the selection factors. The DWMAD reviewed the proposals from all candidates based on the merit of their proposals and awarded up to $1 million to each candidate.

Communities were awarded the requested amount of funding for their asset management plan updates up to a maximum of $250,000. Funds to remove lead service lines were allocated based on population size to maximize the impact of lead removal. Communities with populations greater than 100,000 received the maximum amount of grant funding of a $1 million.

Municipalities can use the funding to support improvements such as updating material inventories of the types of service lines present in the system, updating their asset management plan or for full lead service line replacement. Updates to asset management plans and the distribution system material inventories were given priority as that is the foundation for elimination of lead from drinking water systems.

The intent is for communities to complete most of the work by the end of the construction season in order to quickly demonstrate efficacy of the program.

The department will survey all grantees following the conclusion of the pilot program to gather lessons learned that can be applied to other communities to make both asset management and lead service line removal more effective in the future.

Water System

Total Award

Battle Creek          

Benton Harbor    

Detroit          

Escanaba            

Evart                 

Grand Rapids     

Hudson            

Ironwood       

Jackson        

Kalamazoo     

Ludington  

Manistee     

Mount Clemens   

Muskegon   

Muskegon Heights 

Owosso   

Saginaw  

Saint Joseph

Total:

$500,000

$284,000

$1,000,000

$389,000

$433,000

$1,000,000

$368,000

$469,000

$250,000

$1,000,000

$469,000

$331,000

$346,000

$600,000

$318,000

$508,000

$963,000

$272,000

$9,500,000