Charlestown Awarded $4.289 Million for Drinking Water Project

Concord, NH – The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) announced today that Governor Chris Sununu and the Executive Council at their meeting on March 23, approved $4,289,000, in a combination of grant and loan funds, for the Town of Charlestown for needed water system improvements. NHDES provided the funding through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) and the Drinking Water State Revolving Loan Fund. The Charlestown project is the first to receive final approval of ARPA infrastructure funding in New Hampshire. NHDES has offered over $100 million in funding for 232 projects, which are in the process of finalizing their proposals to NHDES for submission to the Governor and Executive Council for approval.

“We are tackling clean drinking water issues head-on,” said Governor Chris Sununu. “We are making strategic, life-saving improvements to our state’s water infrastructure and these one-time investments will benefit Granite Staters for generations to come.”

The Town will use the grant and loan funding to make water system improvements including the interconnection of the Charlestown Water System (CWS) and the North Charlestown Water System (NCWS) to address arsenic exceedances in the wells serving the NCWS. The project will also include the construction of a booster pump station to address low-pressure areas within the existing NCWS. This project will improve water quality and reliability.

ARPA is a $1.9 trillion economic stimulus bill to speed up the United States’ recovery from the economic health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resultant recession. The Act defines eligible uses of the state and local funding, including responding to public health emergencies, responding to workers performing essential work during the COVID-19 emergency, providing revenue relief to states and making investments in water, sewer and broadband infrastructure.  

In accordance with the final rule from the US Treasury Department for water and wastewater infrastructure investments, project eligibility is aligned with the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund and Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF). This project is an eligible DWSRF infrastructure project.

The ARPA grant for 30% of the estimated project cost is $1,286,700. The DWSRF loan amount is $3,002,300. The Town is eligible for principal forgiveness under the 2021 DWSRF Intended Use Plan. The amount of principal forgiveness will be determined when the project is complete.

For more information regarding infrastructure funding programs such as ARPA and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) being administered by NHDES visit the NHDES Infrastructure Funding website. Some of the ongoing activity including upcoming program application rounds and deadlines are as follows:

• The Critical Flood-Risk assistance program is a new program for NHDES. The solicitation for applications is now open through April 15, 2022.
• The cybersecurity audit measure implementation ARPA grant program is now accepting applications. Up to $50,000 of grant funding is available per drinking water or wastewater system to implement recommendations from a cybersecurity assessment. The maximum combined grant per applicant is $100,000. Further information is available on the Infrastructure Funding website and includes a link to the application. Completed applications will be accepted on an ongoing basis through December 31, 2022, or until there is no longer funding available. This open solicitation allows potential applicants the time to complete their assessment and then apply for this grant to implement the recommendations.
• NHDES is planning a second solicitation for applications to the Assistance for Disadvantaged Communities grant program which are due June 1, 2022. The application for this solicitation is planned to be released in April 2022. Program details and eligibility can be found at the NHDES Infrastructure Funding website. 
• The annual solicitation for the Drinking Water and Clean Water State Revolving Funds in June 2022 will be utilized for determining ARPA grants for infrastructure projects and solicitations will continue in 2022 for the planning and long-term sustainability grant programs as well.
• NHDES will be hosting a virtual Water Infrastructure Funding Workshop the week of April 11 with session topics covering NHDES funding programs, ARPA and BIL. Information about the workshop and registration can be found at the NHDES Infrastructure Funding website.

For more information, please contact Erin Holmes, NHDES at Erin.L.Holmes@des.nh.gov or (603) 848-4259.