Governor Paterson Announces $61.5 Million in Aid to Improve Water Quality

ALBANY, NY (11/12/2010)(readMedia)-- Governor David A. Paterson today announced $61.5 million in aid to local communities across New York to improve water quality, reduce pollution and restore vital habitat. The funds have been awarded to municipalities and Soil and Water Conservation districts to address major sources of water pollution and habitat degradation in dozens of urban, suburban and rural communities.

"These grants will help communities throughout the State fulfill a basic responsibility: protecting water quality," Governor Paterson said. "The local governments and conservation districts selected in this grant program all demonstrated a clear need for these funds and proposed innovative approaches for addressing often long-standing problems. These awards are another step my administration has taken to protect New York's clean water supply, from forming the Clean Water Collaborative to securing a record Federal grant for water infrastructure improvements."

The grants awarded today are from the Water Quality Improvement Program (WQIP), a competitive program within the State's Environmental Protection Fund. Eligible projects include municipal wastewater treatment; municipal separate storm sewer systems; non-agricultural, non-point source abatement and control; aquatic habitat restoration; and water quality management. Depending on the project, recipients can be reimbursed for up to 85 percent of the total cost.

Projects designed to improve existing wastewater treatment systems and to limit or eliminate combined sewer overflows received more than $41 million. Another $20 million will go toward projects to restore or improve vital stream habitat and reduce pollution from stormwater runoff through the implementation of green infrastructure, smart growth principles, sewer mapping and outreach materials.

Projects to be funded through this grant program include:

• $10.7 million for projects in Nassau and Suffolk counties, including habitat restoration projects for Mill Creek in Port Jefferson, Halls Pond in West Hempstead, Indian Island/Terry's Creek in Riverhead and Lindenhurst's Shore Road Park.

• $2 million for the City of Yonkers for a project that will open up some currently covered areas of the Saw Mill River to improve water quality.

• $5.1 million for Utica and $395,000 for the Town of Waterford, Saratoga County, to address problems that have led to combined sewer overflows.

• $5 million for Erwin, Steuben County, a Chesapeake Bay watershed community, to assist the construction of wastewater infrastructure.

• More than $3.5 million for projects in Monroe County that focus on stormwater runoff, including $2 million to Rochester for green infrastructure.

• $11.5 million for Erie County projects to address sanitary sewer issues and the Rush Creek Interceptor Project.

• $775,000 for Willsboro, Essex County, to stabilize 2,000 feet of shoreline; a project that will reduce the deposition of contaminated sediment and improve both the water quality and the fish habitat of the Boquet River and Lake Champlain.

A full list of the 101 projects in 38 counties that will receive funding can be found on the State Department of Environmental Conservation website at: http://www.dec.ny.gov/pubs/4774.html.

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