Grants Announced: Water Quality Improvement Project (WQIP) and NYS DEC/EFC Wastewater Infrastructure Engineering Planning Grant (EPG)

This week Governor Cuomo, through the Regional Economic Development Council (REDC) Initiative, announced grant awards.

Water Quality Improvement Project (WQIP) Program

The Governor announced $32.9 million for 71 WQIP projects that will improve water quality, reduce polluted runoff and restore waterbodies and aquatic habitats.  

The WQIP program provides grant funding to municipalities for projects including: municipal wastewater treatment; municipal separate storm sewer systems (MS4); abatement of non-agricultural nonpoint source runoff; and restoration of aquatic habitats.  A full list of WQIP projects is available on the Department website.

NYS DEC/EFC Wastewater Infrastructure Engineering Planning Grant (EPG) Program

The Governor announced $2,024,400 million for 31 EPG grants that will provide financial assistance to communities for the initial planning of eligible Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) water quality projects.

The EPG program provides funding to municipalities for engineering and/or consultant fees for engineering and planning services for the production of an engineering report.  A full list of EPG projects is available on the on the Environmental Facilities Corporation website.

Reminder: Municipal Sewage System Asset Management Pilot Program

Recently, DEC announced that municipalities have the opportunity to participate in the state’s Municipal Sewage System Asset Management Pilot Program. Staff have been fielding questions about the program and have added a Questions and Answers section to the Municipal Sewage System Asset Management Pilot Program web page. The Questions and Answers section will be updated periodically. Applications are due January 20, 2016.  DEC encourages municipalities to review the pilot program web pages to learn more about this unique opportunity. 

2014-2015 SPDES Compliance & Enforcement Annual Report

The Division of Water has released its SPDES Compliance and Enforcement Annual Report for 2014-2015 (for the period April 1, 2014 through March 31, 2015).

The report details the Department’s compliance and enforcement oversight of facilities permitted under the State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (SPDES) and those activities relating to New York State’s authorizations under the Clean Water Act.  The report also provides a summary of sewage releases reported to the Department as required under the Sewage Pollution Right to Know Act.    

How do I get a copy of the annual report?

Six previous annual reports and now 2014-2015 are on the DEC SPDES Compliance & Enforcement webpage as PDF files. Links to the reports are in the “Important Links” section of the right-hand column of that page.