New York Governor Kathy Hochul has unveiled $434 million in low-cost financing and grants to help communities across the state upgrade water and sewer systems without sharply raising bills for local ratepayers. The Environmental Facilities Corporation’s (EFC) Board of Directors approved the package, which combines state and federal funds to support system modernisation, protect public health and the environment, and sustain skilled jobs in the sector. The announcement is the latest in a series of periodic EFC funding rounds tied to the governor’s $3.75 billion, five year water infrastructure commitment.
Of the total, $361 million in low-cost financing will go toward 11 drinking water and sewer projects in New York City, bringing EFC’s cumulative support for these projects to $1 billion. Among the works covered are tunnel shafts to boost redundancy in the water supply system, upgrades to cover the Hillview Reservoir, backup power equipment at a wastewater facility, and pump station improvements aimed at reducing combined sewer overflows into the Hudson River.
Smaller municipalities will also benefit. In Warwick, $16 million will fund upgrades to a wastewater treatment plant built in the 1980s. Riverhead will receive $17.6 million in interest free financing for sludge facilities expected to cut truck traffic and emissions. The Suffolk County Water Authority will get $2.8 million to remove PFAS from two well fields, while Lorraine will use a $4.4 million grant to connect 63 households currently relying on private wells to a public water system.
The financing draws on New York’s Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds, which have been boosted since 2022 by the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, along with the state’s Water Infrastructure Improvement and Intermunicipal Water Infrastructure Grants and Green Resiliency Grants. Officials noted that the additional federal boost to the revolving funds ends this year.
Since 2015, the Water Infrastructure Improvement and Intermunicipal Water Infrastructure Grants alone have saved ratepayers more than $8.3 billion statewide, according to state figures.