MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) – More than 400 Alabama water and sewer systems have applied for grants funded by pandemic relief money, according to the Alabama Department of Environmental Management.
Alabama lawmakers this winter voted to use $225 million out of the state’s share of American Rescue Plan funding to fund high-need water and sewer projects.
“This is an historic opportunity to address longstanding water and sewer needs to benefit hundreds of thousands, and potentially millions, of Alabamians,” ADEM Director Lance LeFleur said in a statement.
The state will use $120 million for previously identified emergency or high-need projects and will not require a local match; $100 million for grants that may require a local match based on ability to pay; and $5 million to address longstanding problems in the Black Belt region of the state.
Rep. Kelvin Lawrence, a Democrat from Hayneville, said in a press release that the funding could be life-changing for many people in his Black Belt district. Wastewater treatment is a decades-old problem in parts of the area, where poor communities often lack traditional sewer lines. Septic tank systems are a poor alternative in some areas because the region’s heavy clay soil traps water near the surface.