Rye, N.Y. – Assemblyman Steve Otis (AD-91) and the NYS Environmental Facilities Corporation are hosting a Clean Water Infrastructure Grant Workshop to provide Westchester local governments, environmental groups and engineering firms with information on the 2021 state water grant applications now open for submissions.

The Clean Water Infrastructure Grant Workshop will be held on Wednesday October 20^th from 1:00-3:00pm at the Jay Heritage Center Carriage House in Rye, NY. To register click HERE.

The Environmental Facilities Corporation (EFC) is the state agency responsible for NYS’s clean water infrastructure grants for local municipalities. Senior staff from the EFC will present and answer questions regarding this year’s application process. Assemblyman Otis has hosted annual water grant workshops in Westchester every year since the enactment of the Water Infrastructure Improvement Act of 2015 to assist Westchester communities in securing grant funding from state clean water programs.

The workshops have been very helpful in encouraging successful applications from across Westchester and for applicants to learn more about the process, application information specific to the current year funding round and background on other EFC programs. The application round is now open. Grant applications must be submitted to NYSWaterGrants@efc.ny.gov no later than 5:00 pm on Monday, November 22, 2021. For additional information and to register for an upcoming webinar on Tuesday, November 2nd at 2:00 pm, please visit the EFC website at www.efc.ny.gov.

Assemblyman Otis, who helped initiate the Water Infrastructure Improvement Act of 2015, said, “Westchester local governments have been awarded $45.5 million in state grants since this program was initiated in 2015. The workshops, and outreach by our co-host organizations, have helped generate quality applications from Westchester and brought more state dollars to help fund our local clean water projects.”

Workshop co-hosts this year are: the Federated Conservationists of Westchester (FCWC), Jay Heritage Center, Save the Sound, the Westchester Municipal Officials Associations (WMOA) and the Westchester Putnam Construction Industry Council (CIC).

The 2021 grant round of funding was announced by Governor Hochul in September. The biggest portion of the funding is $400 million in grants through the Water Infrastructure Improvement Act program (WIIA) and the Intermunicipal Grant (IMG) program, which have received tremendous response by local governments, environmental and construction groups in helping upgrade our clean water infrastructure.

To date, WIIA and IMG have provided $1.2 billion in grants to local governments, including the $4.5 million to Westchester municipalities for important clean water projects. The WIIA and IMG grants will again be administered by the NYS Environmental Facilities Corporation (EFC), which has done a great job of working with local governments during the application process, expediting post approval contracting and getting funds to municipal awardees. 

Governor Hochul also announced an additional $200 million being added to the Water Quality Improvement Project Program (WQIP) as part of the 2021 CFA funding round, which has already occurred. Those applications are now being evaluated. In addition, the governor announced that the Publicly Owned Treatment Works Asset Management Program will make $10 million available to establish asset management programs that will help municipalities monitor, protect, and responsibly plan upgrades for wastewater infrastructure systems, at no cost. An additional $5 million in Green Innovation Grant (GIG) Program funding will be available to communities that utilize unique stormwater infrastructure design and create cutting-edge green technologies to mitigate the impact of climate change. Information about these funding sources will be included in the workshop.

Assemblyman Otis’s office is available to help applicants in this important funding opportunity and to support applications throughout the process. Applicants can contact the district office at 914-939-7028 for more information.