The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation recently announced that it has awarded 131 grants worth $299,228,167 through the American Rescue Plan fund. These grants are composed of 29 collaborative grants and 102 non-collaborative grants and will be used to support 469 individual drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure initiatives across the state.
The TN Department of Environment and Conservation, along with enumerating and detailing all of the grants awarded, further reported:
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 to address systems’ critical needs. Those include developing Asset Management Plans, addressing significant non-compliance, updating aging infrastructure, mitigating water loss for drinking water systems, and reducing inflow and infiltration for wastewater systems.
The grants announced today are part of the $1 billion non-competitive grant program. The remaining funds ($269 million) will go to state-initiated projects and competitive grants.
“As Tennessee continues to experience unprecedented growth, we’re prioritizing critical infrastructure investments that will address the needs of Tennesseans and give local communities the resources needed to thrive,” Gov. Bill Lee said. “We look forward to the improvements these projects will bring, and we commend the communities who have gone through the application process.”
