$18.7 million awarded for clean water projects in southwest Washington

The Department of Ecology announced that they are awarding a total $216 million in grants and loans that could support more than 2,300 jobs and improve water quality for communities across the state.

Specifically, in the southwest region, they are offering $18.7 million for 19 high-priority clean water projects.

The Water Quality Combined Funding Program supports local communities by helping those receiving the funds to:

• Upgrade wastewater treatment systems and sewer systems.
• Manage polluted stormwater.
• Prevent and clean up harder to identify sources of pollution, nonpoint pollution. Nonpoint pollution comes from activities that are usually widespread across an area without a single pollution source.

For more information about the statewide awards please the DOE press release.

Some of the projects highlighted locally include $9 million in grants and loans to six wastewater projects, $8.7 million in grants and loans to 10 stormwater projects, and$800,000 in grants to three nonpoint projects;

City of Aberdeen

We’re offering the City of Aberdeen $400,000 in loan and $400,000 in forgivable loan to design improvements for their wastewater treatment facility whose components date back to the 1950s. The proposed improvements will provide adequate capacity for peak flows and improve the reliability and redundancy of the facility. The improvements are necessary to prevent overflow events which discharge untreated sewage to the Chehalis estuary.

City of Puyallup

We’re offering the City of Puyallup in Pierce County a $653,000 grant to reconstruct 1,200 feet of existing roadway and sidewalk using permeable pavement. The City’s current facility is undersized and not connected to the City’s sewer system. The reconstruction will result in an overall reduction of polluted stormwater runoff to Clarks Creek, a federally recognized impaired waterbody and home to three federally listed species of salmon.

Clark County

We’re offering Clark County $500,000 in grants to implement wetland restoration along a channelized section of Cougar Creek headwaters on the Heritage Farm property. Heritage Farm is a site for community learning and gathering, naturalists, gardeners, farmers, demonstrations and research. The project offers an opportunity not only for wetland restoration, but also outreach to the surrounding community for watershed stewardship in urban and agricultural settings in a single location.

For the full list of projects, visit our grants webpage or view our interactive map.