WithersRavenel’s Funding team helped nine of our clients successfully get Lead Service Line Replacement (LSLR) funding, totaling more than $7 million. The funds were approved by the State Water Infrastructure Authority (SWIA) during its September meeting.
SWIA approved a total of 30 communities for more than $34 million in the following three project categories:
- Inventory
- Find and Replace
- Replacement
North Carolina has about $67 million available for lead service line projects, according to the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) website, with additional funding likely to be available in the future.
The funds are part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which allocated $15 billion to communities across the US to help replace lead service lines, and they will be approved for communities throughout the year during each of the four scheduled SWIA meetings. The next three meetings include one in December 2023, and two in February and April 2024, respectively.
The tentative deadline for applications for the next rounds of selections are November 1 and December 2023.
Of the nine clients, the Town of Troy was approved for applications under two project categories, Inventory and Find and Replace.
These other clients were approved for Inventory funding:
- Town of Smithfield
- Baton Water Corporation
- Town of Belmont
- City of Sanford
- City of Clinton
- City of Marion
- Town of Walnut Cove
- Onslow Water and Sewer Authority (ONWASA)
Of the $7,156,973 approved by SWIA for the projects in these communities, $4,264,184 will be principal forgiveness, while the remainder of the money will constitute no-interest loans.
These funds will have deadlines as part of their contracts, though those have not yet been set. However, these funds are not tied to the October 16, 2024, deadline in the Lead and Copper Rule Revisions (LCRR), under which the Environmental Protection Agency mandates that communities complete an initial inventory identifying potential presence of lead in service lines and submit it to the North Carolina Public Water Supply Section by that date.
Contact WithersRavenel Director of Funding Amanda Whitaker at awhitaker@withersravenel.com or (919) 238-0448 to learn more about how we can help you with applying for LSLR funding or to discuss the EPA rules for service line inventory.