EGLE announces $11.7M In MI Clean Water Grants To Help MI Communities Upgrade Water Infrastructure, Protect Health And Environment

Water main replacement in Highland Park, pollution filtration in Ann Arbor’s drinking water plant, and identification of lead water lines in Grand Rapids and Mayville are among $11.7M in Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) grants recently awarded to Michigan communities.

The MI Clean Water Plan grants, through EGLE’s Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF), Drinking Water Asset Management (DWAM) Program, Consolidation and Contamination Risk Reduction (C2R2) Program, and federal sources aim to help communities ensure clean drinking water and manage wastewater to protect public health and Michigan’s natural resources.

Seventy percent of Michiganders are served by more than 1,000 community wastewater systems and a similar percentage get drinking water from community water systems. Those systems often struggle to find resources to address legacy issues like aging drinking water and stormwater facilities and emerging challenges like new standards for Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) “forever chemicals.”

Governor Gretchen Whitmer, the Michigan Legislature, and federal agencies have ramped up funding for aging water infrastructure – a critical move to help ensure those water systems continue to protect public health and the environment, including Michigan’s unmatched freshwater resources.

More than half of EGLE’s budget has traditionally passed through to Michigan cities, towns, villages, and other local government agencies to finance critical improvements that help them better protect residents and our natural resources.

Grant roundup
Recent grants through DWSRF:

• City of Highland Park for $10,105,000. This project includes watermain replacement and lead service line replacements in the City of Highland Park. Approximately four miles of the existing cast-iron watermain will be replaced with 8- and 12-inch diameter pipe along John R Street, Brush Street, Tennyson Street, Oakland Park Boulevard, and Hamilton Avenue. This work will be accompanied by approximately 138 public and private service line replacements along Tennyson Street and throughout the city.

Recent grants through C2R2:

• City of Ann Arbor for $491,122. The City of Ann Arbor has been monitoring PFAS concentrations in various stages of their treatment process since it was detected in their source water in 2016. Since this discovery, the filters at the water treatment plant have been replaced with granular activated carbon. This project is to replace the filter underdrains in two of the filters to improve PFAS removal efficiency.

Recent grants through DWAM:

• City of Grand Rapids for $196,453. This project involves work related to the City of Grand Rapids’ Distribution System Materials Inventory (DSMI). Field verification of lead water service lines will be conducted for a minimum of 383 service lines out of their total of 84,248. This project includes applicable restoration to original condition after field work occurs at these locations. The inventory is required by law and necessary to identify the locations of lead lines prior to removal.
• Village of Mayville for $208,717. This project involves work related to the Village of Mayville’s Distribution System Materials Inventory (DSMI) and drinking water Asset Management Plan (AMP). Field verification will be conducted for a minimum of 82 service lines out of their total of 412. This project includes applicable restoration to original condition after field work occurs at these locations. The inventory is required by law and necessary to identify the locations of lead lines prior to removal.

Recent grants through the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL):

• City of Rockford for $234,000. Funding will be used to assess potential PFAS source areas to the municipal collection system and begin planning for corrective actions to minimize the potential for the pollutant to reach surface waters.
• City of Cedar Springs for $234,000. Funding will be used to assess potential source areas of PFAS contamination in the Russell Ridge neighborhood, evaluate potential groundwater impacts at the city’s wastewater treatment plant discharge field and former lagoon area, and assess potential source areas in wastewater collection system and at the wastewater treatment plant.
• City of Bronson, $234,000. Funding will be used to assess potential PFAS source areas in the wastewater collection system and at the wastewater treatment plant and create plans to address the sources and minimize impacts to surface water.

Descriptions of funding sources
Drinking Water State Revolving Fund: Low-interest loan program to help public water systems finance the costs of replacement and repair of drinking water infrastructure to protect public health and achieve or maintain compliance with federal Safe Drinking Water Act requirements. The DWSRF provides loans to water systems for eligible infrastructure projects. As water systems repay their loans, the repayments and interest flow back into the DWSRF to support new loans. American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding operates as a grant and may be used in combination with loan dollars to reduce the financial burden on communities to pay for capital improvement debt. ARPA funded grants awarded this fiscal year: $218,398,719.

Clean Water State Revolving Fund: Used by local municipalities to finance construction of water pollution control projects. These projects include wastewater treatment plant upgrades and expansions, combined or sanitary sewer overflow abatement, new sewers designed to reduce existing sources of pollution, and other publicly owned wastewater treatment efforts that improve water quality. The CWSRF can also finance stormwater infrastructure projects to reduce nonpoint sources of water pollution caused by things like agricultural runoff to lakes, streams, and wetlands. As with the DWSRF, ARPA funds can be used in conjunction with CWSRF loan dollars, thereby reducing the debt communities pay for infrastructure improvements. ARPA-funded grants awarded this fiscal year: $137,982,009.

Drinking Water Asset Management (DWAM) Program: Provides grant funding to assist drinking water suppliers with asset management plan development and updates, and/or distribution system materials inventories as defined in Michigan’s revised Lead and Copper Rule. Awarded this fiscal year: $19,695,817.

Consolidation and Contamination Risk Reduction (C2R2) Program: Established to provide assistance to drinking water systems to remove or reduce PFAS or other contaminants. Awarded this fiscal year: $20,336,215.

Substantial Public Health Risk Project (SPHRP) Program: Protects public and environmental health by removing direct and continuous discharges of wastewater from surface or groundwater. Awarded this fiscal year: $8,000,000.

Additional Background
Since January 2019 the State has invested over $4B to upgrade drinking water, stormwater, and wastewater facilities across the state, supporting over 57,000 jobs.

In 2022, Governor Whitmer signed a package of bills to help communities access funding for water infrastructure.