New York Awards More Than $249 Million to 181 Water Quality Projects: Over $206 Million for Environmental Justice Communities
New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced on October 30 that the state will award more than $249 million in grants to 181 water quality protection projects across New York. The grants will protect drinking water, update aging water infrastructure, reduce contributors to harmful algal blooms and improve aquatic and terrestrial habitat in communities statewide, with more than $206 million supporting environmental justice communities that may be disproportionately impacted by environmental pollution.
The bulk of the funding, more than $246 million, will support 139 projects through the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Water Quality Improvement Project (WQIP) program, which funds municipal wastewater treatment upgrades, land acquisition for source water protection, salt storage and road salt reduction, dam safety repair, aquatic connectivity restoration and habitat restoration. Another $2.9 million-plus will support 42 projects through DEC's Non-Agricultural Nonpoint Source and Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System Planning Grant (NPG) program, covering early planning work such as culvert replacement and green infrastructure.
Highlighted projects include $10 million for the Cayuga County Water and Sewer Authority to install a low-pressure sanitary sewer system along nine miles of Cayuga Lake in the towns of Ledyard and Genoa, connecting homes now using failing septic systems to the Village of Aurora wastewater treatment plant; $10 million for the Niagara Falls Water Board to upgrade its wastewater treatment process; $10 million for the Town of Elizabethtown to build a new wastewater treatment plant; and $2.5 million for the City of Peekskill to repair the Lower Wiccopee Dam at its drinking water reservoir. Sixty-three WQIP and NPG grants totaling about $122 million will support watersheds that have experienced harmful algal blooms in the past five years, and $17 million in Clean Water Infrastructure funding will go to road salt reduction, including brine-making equipment, salt storage and retrofitted snowplows.
"Access to clean water is a fundamental human right, which is why under my administration New York has made record investments to improve water quality across the state," Governor Hochul said. DEC Commissioner Amanda Lefton said the nearly $300 million awarded through the two programs reduces flood risk and protects drinking water and aquatic habitats. State Senator Pete Harckham pointed to the $2.5 million to shore up the dam and spillway at Wiccopee Reservoir, the source of Peekskill's drinking water.
According to the governor's office, New York has invested more than $10 billion in water infrastructure and clean water projects since Hochul took office, and the enacted fiscal 2027 budget sets out a $3.75 billion water infrastructure investment plan, building on $10.6 billion provided since 2021. WQIP is funded primarily by the 2022 Clean Water, Clean Air, and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act, the Environmental Protection Fund and the state's Clean Water Infrastructure program.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 尼亚加拉瀑布全景（资料图）。CC BY 2.0，James St. John摄，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Panorama of Niagara Falls (file photo). CC BY 2.0, by James St. John, via Wikimedia Commons.
