Montpelier, Vt. - Governor Phil Scott and the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Wastewater Program today announced $2.8 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) awards to help municipalities and companies improve their wastewater quality through pretreatment and capacity management.

“Investing in municipal wastewater infrastructure opens up numerous opportunities for communities, from the environmental benefit, to economic development, housing, and more,” said Governor Scott. “My team will continue to make supporting this infrastructure a priority in all corners of the state.”

“Our municipal wastewater treatment facilities often face challenges when treating high strength or toxic wastewater,” said DEC Commissioner John Beling. “By investing ARPA funds in wastewater pretreatment, we can take a significant step forward in cutting pollution and better protecting our environment and human health.”

Industries like metal finishers or landfills produce wastewater that is toxic, or high strength (meaning it has a lot of nutrients or organic matter). Pretreatment systems can remove or reduce harmful pollutants in wastewater before it enters municipal wastewater treatment facilities. Proper wastewater management allows municipalities to reserve a facility’s capacity for future development and growth.

From May to September 2022, the DEC Wastewater Program received nine applications for these funds. After a thorough scoring process, the program selected seven potential awardees. Five of the awardees are municipalities that will pass funds onto businesses to install or improve their wastewater pretreatment infrastructure.

The remaining two awardees are municipalities that will use the funds to create and conduct industrial user surveys to collect data on commercial users, develop local pollution limits, and improve sewer use ordinances. These projects will help the municipalities better manage the capacity of their wastewater treatment facilities. The seven potential awardees include:

Town of Brattleboro – Commonwealth Dairy – Windham County – $250,000

Village of Morrisville – Rock Art Brewery – Lamoille County – $45,000

City of Montpelier – New England Waste Services of Vermont, Inc. – Washington County – $1,000,000

Town of Randolph – New England Precision – Orange County – $298,800

City of Vergennes – Collins Aerospace – Addison County – $829,408.93

City of Burlington – Chittenden County – $183,188

City of South Burlington – Chittenden County – $199,000

“We were excited to receive applications for a diversity of projects that will improve wastewater pretreatment in communities statewide,” said Ashley Hellman with the DEC Wastewater Program. “From a dairy company to a craft brewery, this funding will decrease the amount of pollution entering our public waterways and allow for new businesses to develop throughout Vermont.”

The DEC Wastewater Program expects to open a second round of funding in April of this year. Learn more about ANR’s ARPA wastewater pretreatment online. If Ashley Hellman is not available, contact Nick Giannetti at 802-490-6168 or [email protected].