District Grant Awards Now Total Nearly $35 Million for Capital Projects
In its ongoing effort to treat for emerging contaminants, the Hicksville Water District (HWD) is proud to announce it recently received $17.6 million in grant funding from New York State. The funds will go directly toward the continued treatment of removing 1,4-dioxane through the construction and installation of new state-of-the-art treatment systems throughout the District. This is the second round of state funding the District has received, bringing total grant awards to nearly $35 million since 2020.
“We are grateful to the state for providing us with this grant funding, which will allow us to continue constructing new treatment systems while minimizing the impact to our residents,” said HWD Chairman Nicholas Brigandi. “From the beginning, we have been aggressive in our response plan to tackle emerging contaminants and this grant award is a huge relief to everyone in this community in paying back the capital investment of more than $70 million needed to install required treatment throughout the District.”
This wave of funding is set to cover a great deal of the total capital costs associated with the installation of advanced oxidation process (AOP) and granular activated carbon (GAC) treatment systems at the District’s Plant 5, Plant 6 and Plant 9 locations. This innovative treatment combination is required to eliminate the trace amounts of 1,4-dioxane being detected at many of the District’s supply wells.
The District has been proactive in its aggressive action on treating emerging contaminants, swiftly constructing and installing entirely new treatment systems to address this issue. The nearly $35 million in grant awards will reduce the overall capital costs associated with their construction. The regulations proposed by New York State to regulate 1,4-dioxane and other emerging compounds are calculated to cost the Hicksville Water District more than $70 million in capital improvements needed to construct the required treatment facilities at the District’s 10 impacted wells.
This round of funding is part of a total of $250 million in state grants given to water providers throughout the state for infrastructure upgrades, much of which goes toward the treatment of emerging contaminants. Levels of emerging contaminants in the HWD’s water has never exceeded state standards of emerging contaminant levels, and this funding will go a long way toward ensuring that stays true well into the future.
