Greater than $270 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds authorized for state water initiatives

The Arkansas Pure Assets Fee (ANRC) authorized $270 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding distribution at its assembly on Friday, (Dec. 2). A complete of 157 initiatives will obtain funding throughout 58 counties.

A full checklist of the awarded initiatives may be discovered at this hyperlink.

“In January, I laid out my “W.I.N.S. in 2022” initiative. A type of initiatives was infrastructure. We all know that there’s a giant water and wastewater infrastructure want all through the state and I’m delighted to see the announcement immediately relating to funding distributions by way of the American Rescue Plan Act to assist handle this statewide want,” stated Gov. Asa Hutchinson.

Hutchinson established the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Steering Committee to vet one of the best use of ARPA funding offered to the state. In June 2021, a working group for water and different infrastructure initiatives was shaped to make a suggestion to the ARPA steering committee.

The Working Group performed an in depth evaluation of consuming water, wastewater, and stormwater wants throughout the state. Based mostly on greater than 1,400 responses, an general water infrastructure want of $5.2 billion was recognized. On Aug. 31, 2021, the working group submitted a closing report back to the ARPA Steering Committee. A timeline, eligibility necessities, and scoring standards had been additionally developed and included within the report.

Throughout the summer season, the American Rescue Plan Steering Committee authorized $270 million to the Arkansas Division of Agriculture for water, wastewater, and stormwater initiatives and $10 million for irrigation initiatives.

Functions had been accepted till Nov. 4. A complete of 882 purposes had been obtained and included a minimum of one software from every county inside the state.

The initiatives had been scored by representatives of the Arkansas Division of Agriculture’s Pure Assets Division, Arkansas Division of Well being, and Arkansas Division of Vitality and Setting’s Division of Environmental High quality. A complete of 157 initiatives throughout 58 counties had been beneficial for funding. A complete of 412 distinctive entities submitted purposes and 119 completely different entities obtained funding for water and/or wastewater. Fourteen entities obtained funding for a minimum of one consuming water and one wastewater software.