TDEC announces 11 cities to share in more than $34.5M in ARPA grants
The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) announced 11 municipalities will share in 12 grants totaling $34,585,121 from the state’s American Rescue Plan (ARP) fund, part of which TDEC is administering in the form of water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure grants.
The grants announced follow the announcement of six grants totaling $37,910,909 from the ARP in August, bringing the total rewarded by TDEC thus far to $72.4 million. The grants announced today include one collaborative grant and 11 non-collaborative grants for drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure planning, design, and construction.
Grants were awarded to the municipalities of Farragut, Germantown, Johnson City, Lewisburg, Livingston, Loudon, Millington, Mitchellville, Portland, Westmoreland, and White House.
The cities of Portland and Westmoreland, along with Sumner County, will receive a collaborative grant of $6,752,438 for a multiphase regionalization water project addressing water loss and distribution challenges.
Farragut will receive $1,721,566 to fund a variety of stormwater improvement projects including improvements to quality and drinking water conservation and the development of a Stormwater Infrastructure Plan. The city of Germantown will receive $2,601,138 to update water meters, reading devices, and data retrieval systems.
The city of Johnson City received a $7,817,569 to leverage an existing State Revolving Fund loan to upgrade its aging wastewater system, replacing 21,000 linear feet of main. Lewisburg will use $1,816,744 to address a state-mandated compliance order that is the result of sanitary sewer overflows.
Livingston will leverage $960,607 with a State Revolving Fund loan to complete extensive meter changeouts with automated meter reading equipment and to install remote zone meters in the rural part of the system. Loudon will receive $1,094,581 to reduce inflow and infiltration to limit chronic overflows, use trenchless technologies to repair old lines, rehab existing manholes, and service connections to limit customer disturbance, and reduce impacts to the environment.
Millington will use $1,782,166 to supplement an existing project to modernize their drinking water system. Mitchellville received $576,293 to install 76 new sewer pumps installed, allowing for significant upgrades to the failing system. White House received $1,373,645 to execute a construction project that will make corrections to the wastewater collection system.
Additionally, Metro Lynchburg Moore County will receive $2,509,310 while Rutherford County will also receive $5,579,064.
Tennessee received $3.725 billion from the ARP, and the state’s Financial Stimulus Accountability Group dedicated $1.35 billion of those funds to TDEC to support water projects in communities throughout Tennessee. Of the $1.35 billion, approximately $1 billion was designated for non-competitive formula-based grants offered to counties and eligible cities. The remaining funds will go to state-initiated projects and competitive grants.
TDEC’s strategy for deployment of ARP funds is described in the Water Infrastructure Investment Plan. This plan was developed by TDEC based on input from leaders and experts from agencies internal and external to state government. The plan can be found at this link. Funds from the ARP must be obligated by Dec. 31, 2024 and expended by Dec. 31, 2026.