North Carolina has allocated more than $472 million to fund drinking water and wastewater infrastructure projects statewide. The funding supports 145 projects across 66 counties.
The awards target system upgrades, treatment improvements, and resiliency measures for aging water and sewer infrastructure. Projects include drinking water treatment upgrades, wastewater plant rehabilitation, lead service line identification and replacement, PFAS mitigation, and system hardening following recent storm damage.
The funding package draws from multiple state and federal sources. These include the Drinking Water and Clean Water State Revolving Funds, supplemental State Revolving Fund appropriations tied to recent hurricanes, the Community Development Block Grant–Infrastructure program, the State Reserve Program, and the state’s Viable Utility Reserve. Funding structures include low-interest loans, zero-interest loans, grants, and principal forgiveness, depending on project eligibility.
Notable awards include $33 million for a drinking water treatment project in Goldsboro to address PFAS contamination, $17.8 million for wastewater treatment upgrades in the Cape Fear region, and $10 million for drinking water system resiliency improvements in Newland. Several communities will also receive funding for sewer rehabilitation, pump station replacement, and feasibility studies for system mergers or regionalization.
The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Water Infrastructure reviewed 198 eligible applications requesting $1.89 billion. The State Water Infrastructure Authority approved the final project list at its February 18 meeting.