Roy Cooper Surprises North Carolina With Big Announcement

Governor Roy Cooper recently made a big announcement, saying North Carolina has invested $2.8 billion in water and wastewater projects...

Photo byNC DOT via Wikimedia Commons

Governor Roy Cooper recently announced that communities across North Carolina will receive over $223 million in water and wastewater infrastructure funding.

"This funding will help us achieve our goal of safer, cleaner drinking water for all North Carolinians," said Governor Cooper. "We have already seen the positive impacts funding like this can have for drinking and wastewater projects across our state and are ready to get to work to help more communities.”

Here are some of the most notable projects that will be positively impacted by the recently announced funding:

• The town of Elkin in Surry County will receive up to $315,000 in grants to develop a stormwater plan to protect Elkin Creek through nature-based techniques to stabilize a stream, minimize erosion, and control runoff through stormwater control measures.
• The town of Brunswick in Columbus County will receive up to $2 million in grants for their Water System Resiliency Improvements Phase 2 project to install a new elevated tank addressing water pressure issues, install fire hydrants, and abandon two wells that are being replaced.
• The town of Beech Mountain in Watauga County will receive up to $3 million in loans to rehabilitate and replace a major portion of its sewer collection system that has caused sanitary sewer overflows at the Pond Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant and in watersheds that are classified as water supply sources.

“With each funding round, we continue to see that the need for infrastructure funding is far greater than the funding available,” said Secretary Elizabeth Biser. “The Department of Environmental Quality is focused on providing funding to the communities that need it most to address aging infrastructure, PFAS contamination and access to affordable clean water and sewer service.”

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