28 municipalities share in TDEC ARP fund grants

The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) announced 28 cities will share in 49 grants totaling $191.2 million awarded from the state’s American Rescue Plan (ARP) fund.  

Of the 49 total grants, 14 are part of regionalization projects, eight for water reuse, and 27 for water resource protections.  

Regionalization projects will provide cooperative support across water and wastewater systems to improve the sustainability, affordability, and/or reliability of systems. Grants awarded included more than $8.1 million for Atoka, $8.17 million for the city of Crossville, $19 million for the city of Gallatin, more than $10.7 million for the city of Harriman, more than $15.95 million for the city of Lexington, $997,500 for Mountain City, more than $3.37 for Norris, and $11.4 million for Pigeon Forge.  

Grants were also awarded in this category to water and utility authorities in Blount, Dickson, Knox, Maury, Warren, and Wilson counties. Municipalities that will not directly receive funds but will benefit from the regional projects include Alexandria, Brighton, Clinton, Charlotte, Crab Orchard, Gatlinburg, Hartsville, Lenoir City, Munford, Portland, Sardis, Scotts Hill, Spencer, Thompson’s station, Westmoreland, and White Bluff. 

Water reuse projects will reclaim water from a variety of sources then treat and reuse it for beneficial purposes. Reuse grants awarded included $4.25 million to Chattanooga, $425,000 to Clarksville, $2.47 million to Cleveland, $5.6 million to Franklin, more than $2.39 million to Spring Hill, and $4 million to Thompson’s Station. Additional grants were given to Wilson County and the Ocoee Utility District in Bradley and Polk counties. 

Resource protection projects will either improve water infrastructure resilience to extreme weather events, improve the management of stormwater to improve water quality, and/or restore natural landscape features such as streams or wetlands. The additional strategic project will address regional wastewater needs. 

Winners of these grants included more than $1.78 million to Chattanooga, more than $3.98 million to Cookeville, $665,000 to Cookeville, $665,000 to Dyersburg, $875,425 to Erwin, more than $2 million to Farragut, more than $1.36 million to Huntingdon,  more than $3.38 million to Johnson City, $4.75 million to Knoxville, two grants of $503,500 each to McMinnville, $4.75 million to Memphis, more than $1.17 million to Monterey, $4.25 million to Portland, $1.9 million to Selmer, more than $1.09 million to Sevierville, and $800,000 to Spring Hill, and $340,328 to Sweetwater.   

Knox County and the Tennessee Wildlife Federation also received individual grants while multiple grants were awarded to the Cumberland River Compact; Memphis Light, Gas, and Water; and the West Tennessee River Basin Authority.  

For more details on individual projects, visit here.