City of Oregon Receives $4.1 Million State Grant for Critical Water Infrastructure Upgrades
The City of Oregon is one of 90 projects receiving state grants to address critical water and wastewater infrastructure projects in Ohio communities, In total, 64 counties will receive $135 million.
The funding comes from Ohio Governor Mike DeWine’s Ohio BUILDS (Broadband, Utilities, and Infrastructure for Local Development Success) water infrastructure grant program, administered through the Ohio Department of Development. The award will support the City of Oregon’s Safety, Disinfection and Grit Removal Improvement Project. The project addresses employee safety, adds an Ultraviolet disinfection process, and modernizes the grit removal process at the wastewater treatment plant, The project overall improves the water quality of wastewater discharges from the treatment plant while keeping employees safe.
The announcement is the fifth round awarded through the program, which opened in July 2021. In total, nearly $500 million has been awarded to 343 critical infrastructure projects through the Ohio BUILDS water infrastructure grant program.
In total, the program received more than 1,200 grant applications requesting nearly $1.4 billion in funding.
Funds awarded help reduce or eliminate the local financial burden associated with critical infrastructure needs such as the construction of new water systems, the replacement of aging water lines, and the installation of new water mains. Grants will also fund projects to prevent sewer system backups and replace failing household sewage treatment systems with new sewers.
“This $4.1 million dollar grant will not only allow us to make necessary water quality improvements to the wastewater plant, but also save our sewer rate payers a significant amount of money.” said Mayor Mike Seferian. “Our team worked very hard to put this project and grant application together. Oregon is full of talented employees.”
Ohio BUILDS focuses not only on strengthening Ohio’s communities through water infrastructure upgrades, but also supports other necessary investments in targeted solutions that impact quality of life such as broadband expansion, brownfield redevelopment, the demolition of blighted buildings, and more.
Additional information on the Ohio BUILDS water infrastructure grant program can be found on the program webpage.