State awards $180 million in ARPA water and sewer funds, includes $36 million for Jackson

by Alex Rozier, Mississippi Today
November 4, 2022

The state awarded $180 million in matching American Rescue Plan Act funds on Friday for water, wastewater and storm water projects.

The amount includes $35.6 million for Jackson, exactly what the city applied for last month from the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, which is administering the match program known as the Municipality & County Water Infrastructure Grant Program, or MCWI.

In total, the $180 million MDEQ awarded on Friday is less than half, 41%, of the $435 million that cities and counties applied for from the fund. The first round of awards leaves $270 million remaining in the MCWI fund. MDEQ clarified that $180 million was the maximum amount it could award in the first round of funding under SB 2822. A release from Sen. John Horhn, D-Jackson, said that the agency will begin a second round of funding in the spring.

The dollar-for-dollar match gives Jackson, which has said it needs $2 billion to fix its drinking water and wastewater systems, a total of $71.3 million in ARPA money for the following water projects:

• Jackson J.H. Fewell Plant Filter and Transmission Line Project Drinking Water ($8.8 million from MCWI)
• Jackson O.B. Curtis Raw Water Pump Replacement Drinking Water ($1.65 million)
• Jackson O.B. Curtis/J.H. Fewell Chemical Feed Automation Drinking Water ($1.45 million)
• Jackson O.B. Curtis General Filter Upgrade Project Drinking Water ($8.8 million)
• Jackson J.H. Fewell General Pump Repair and Replacement Drinking Water ($2.75 million)
• Jackson West Bank Interceptor Sewer Line Repair and Rehabilitation Project Wastewater ($7.5 million)
• Jackson Mill Street Sewer Basin Reconstruction Wastewater ($4.7 million)

Horhn said on Friday that “we are looking for the state to do more once the regular session begins in January.”

Overall, 130 projects around the state received funding: $93 million went to 76 wastewater projects, $47 million went to 36 drinking water projects, and $35 million went to 18 storm water projects.

Rankin County received the most money for a single project, getting $14.5 million for its “watershed protection and restoration program.” Meridian received the next highest project award with $8.9 million to improve its wastewater system as required in a federal consent decree.

See the table below for a full list of awarded projects: