Norwich Receives State Money to Upgrade Water Meters

Several Upstate New York communities are the beneficiaries of the more than $20,000,000 in state grant monies doled out by Albany this week.  These fall under the umbrella of the New York State Consolidated Funding Applications and are earmarked for infrastructure projects focusing on the quality of the state's drinking water.

The Green Innovation Grant Program gave out $17,000,000 to 20 projects, each deemed approved for improving water quality.  Several large cities were the recipients of grant money, including Binghamton, Newburgh, Buffalo, and Rome, but several other smaller cities reaped a financial harvest as well.

The City of Norwich (Chenango County) was awarded $1 million to upgrade aging water meters with new advanced metering infrastructure. The new water meters will increase the City's water efficiency, which was estimated to have had over 40% of water produced unaccounted for in 2019. This is an Environmental Justice Community project.

"Stable infrastructure is a requirement for clean water, yet it can be a struggle for communities to cover the cost of planning. These grants offer the means to pay for necessary early planning to kick start these critical projects," Governor Cuomo said. "With this funding we are supporting environmentally-friendly projects that will take center stage in cities, towns and villages across this great state."

It is anticipated that the capital projects undertaken after the engineering reports are completed, which will include repairing sewer collection systems, installing disinfection equipment and connecting areas with failing onsite septic systems to public sewers, will lead to a reduction of pathogens, nitrogen and phosphorus entering water bodies, protecting over 3.5 million New York residents.

To view more of the details of this allotment of water quality funds visit the New York State website by .CLICKING HERE.