Minnesota is awarding grants and loans for projects that expand, upgrade and modernize water and wastewater systems statewide.
The Minnesota Public Utilities Authority (MPFA) announced more than $236.4 million in grant and loan funds for water infrastructure projects in 18 cities. This round of funds will support improvements to water and wastewater systems, including lead service line replacements, water filtration systems and sewer reconstructions and new wells or treatment plants.
The funding is primarily sourced from the MPFA’s Clean Water Revolving Fund and the Drinking Water Revolving Fund. Both programs contribute to Minnesota’s efforts to enhance drinking water quality, comply with state and federal requirements and build reliable water systems in communities in need of water improvements.
The highest-funded projects in this round of MPFA awards include:
- City of Duluth – $62.8 million to replace lead service lines with copper lines in the Lincoln Park, Central Hillside and Fairmount neighborhoods, and along Chester Park Drive Alley, Raleigh Street and London Road.
- City of Fairmont – $38.2 million for two projects. One project will replace two 1.4-million-gallon ground storage reservoirs with two 2-million-gallon reservoirs. The second project will plan, design and construct improvements to the city’s existing wastewater facility as well as upgrading an additional facility.
- Metropolitan Council – $32 million to finance existing and future wastewater improvement projects.
- City of Annandale – $20.1 million to construct a tertiary filtration building with tanks, chemical feed equipment, controls, piping and a new grit classifier and pump.
- City of Blue Earth – $19.6 million to install a reverse-osmosis treatment system in the existing treatment facility, enabling the city to reduce salt discharge from in-home water softeners and decreasing treatment facilities’ chloride concentrations.
- City of Aurora – $15.5 million to construct a new filter and operations building, renovate existing buildings and upgrade electrical and mechanical systems.
- City of Minneapolis – $10.5 million to replace more than 1,000 lead service lines with copper.
- City of Lewiston – $10.2 million to convert batch reactors to extend aeration activation sludge. The project will also install SCADA systems on lift stations and replace portions of sanitary sewer mains.
The selected projects are also eligible for additional funding through MPFA’s other funding programs for water and wastewater initiatives, including the Point Source Implementation Grant program, the Water Infrastructure Fund and the Small Community Wastewater Treatment Program.
State officials note that through all of the agency’s programs, MPFA has provided over $7.1 billion in public funding for infrastructure projects throughout the state. As the administrator of the revolving loan funds, the MPFA oversees projects statewide that enhance water, wastewater and sewer systems.
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