Greenfield, McKenzie receive water-infrastructure grants

NASHVILLE – The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) announced 20 grants this week totaling $63,888,650 from the state’s American Rescue Plan (ARP) fund, part of which TDEC is administering in the form of drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure grants. 

Among the grant recipients are the cities of Greenfield and McKenzie that received more than $1 million each in non-collaborative grants.

City of Greenfield – $1,476,684

The City of Greenfield will use ARP funds to develop an Asset Management Plan and address critical needs. Greenfield's projects include improvements to the sanitary sewer collection system and bank stabilization of the sewer system.

City of McKenzie – $1,417,356

The City of McKenzie will use ARP funds to develop an Asset Management Plan and address critical water loss needs. McKenzie will replace aged pump stations with new pumps and piping and install new zone meters that can monitor fluctuations to significantly reduce the system's water loss.

Of the 20 statewide grants announced this week, two are collaborative grants and 18 are non-collaborative grants. Collaborative grants involve multiple entities (cities, counties, or water utilities) partnering on projects to work toward a shared purpose. The non-competitive grant program will fund a total of 266 non-collaborative grants and 71 collaborative grants. The non-competitive grant program has been a success, funding over 1,000 individual drinking water, wastewater, and/or stormwater infrastructure projects. 

Tennessee received $3.725 billion from the ARP, and the state’s Financial Stimulus Accountability Group dedicated $1.35 billion of those funds to TDEC to support water projects in communities throughout Tennessee. Of the $1.35 billion, approximately $1 billion was designated for non-competitive formula-based grants offered to counties and eligible cities to address systems’ critical needs. The remaining funds will go to state-initiated projects and competitive grants.

Since August 2022, TDEC has awarded and announced $996 million in executed grant funds representing every county and 248 cities through ARP programming, and today’s announced grants mark the conclusion of the award phase of the non-competitive grant program.

“We commend the communities who have gone through the application process and acquired these grants,” Gov. Bill Lee said. “The grants are funding important water infrastructure across our state, and we look forward to the improvements this process will bring.”

“We expect excellent results from these grants,” said TDEC Commissioner David Salyers. “Communities across our state are receiving the assistance they need to address water infrastructure challenges. We at TDEC are glad we could play a part in this process.”