Governor Beshear awards $217 million to support clean water initiatives across Kentucky

(UC) — Governor Andy Beshear has awarded over $217 million in funding to support 408 projects that will provide clean drinking water and improve water infrastructure across 102 counties in Kentucky.

The funding comes from the second round of Gov. Beshear’s Cleaner Water Program. Approximately 1,500 unserved and 38,000 underserved homes will benefit from the water and sewer line projects alone. This does not include the Kentuckians who will benefit from projects like water and sewer treatment plant projects or water tank projects.

“Since the start of my administration, I’ve prioritized upgrading Kentucky’s critical infrastructure and making our state a better place for our people,” Gov. Beshear said. “With this announcement, we’re investing more than $200 million in projects across the state. Once we allocate all the Cleaner Water funds from this round, every county will have funding to help improve their water infrastructure.”

A few projects the Governor highlighted include:

• Calloway County will receive over two $2.2 million in funding for three projects. One of those projects will deliver clean water to 60 homes that currently don’t have water service. Another project will deliver clean water to 23 homes that currently rely on wells for their water.
•  Pike County will receive $3.5 million for six projects. One project will deliver clean water to about 39 homes. Another project will install 3,000 feet of water line to provide safe drinking water to four unserved homes in Pike County.
• Barren County has $2.7 million for three projects. One of those projects will deliver clean water to 15 unserved homes by installing almost 30,000 feet of water line. Another project will replace outdated equipment at the wastewater treatment plant in Cave City.
• Campbell County, which will have $5.6 million for projects. One project will provide water service to 56 homes currently unserved by public water. Another project will allow for a water main extension to serve three undeveloped lots in the City of Wilder. Right now, there’s no water line to serve approximately 30 acres of industrial land.

Gov. Beshear’s Better Kentucky Plan is creating 14,500 jobs and helping to build better schools, expand access to high-speed internet, improve infrastructure and deliver clean drinking water and quality sewer systems across Kentucky.

The Cleaner Water Program has been allocated $500 million by the state legislature since 2021. The total amount of round two funding is $249,925,000, meaning there is still over $32 thousand remaining to be awarded. The 2022 funding will be allocated based on each county’s proportion of the state’s population, with the exception of Jefferson County’s share, which is discounted by 50% based on its high per capita allocation from the federal act. A list of the allocations by county can be found here. Every county will receive funding once all the money is allocated.

In July, Gov. Beshear announced the final 29 projects that were allocated funding from the first round of the Cleaner Water Program and announced the call for projects for round two. These 408 projects were selected for funding after Gov. Beshear announced new project submissions were being accepted. All grant awardees must obligate the funds by Dec. 31, 2024.

The American Society of Civil Engineers in 2019 projected that Kentucky faces nearly $14.5 billion in water/wastewater infrastructure needs over the next 20 years, including over $8.2 billion in drinking water upgrades and $6.2 billion in sewer system improvements.

 

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