State Rep. Kelly Keisling announces $11.5 million in water infrastructure grants

State Rep. Kelly Keisling today announced $11.5 million in grant funding to improve water infrastructure in Clay, Fentress, and Macon counties.

“Our communities prosper when they have safe and reliable infrastructure,” Keisling said. “These projects will address critical needs as well as make improvements that will benefit countless residents and businesses. We appreciate TDEC’s partnership as well as the efforts of everyone involved in these important projects.”

The grants, administered by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC), are among 131 grants totaling $232.7 million from the state’s American Rescue Plan (ARP) fund.

Grant recipients include:

• City of Lafayette: $2.19 million to develop an asset management plan and a variety of drinking water, wastewater and stormwater projects, including extending safe potable drinking water to residents. Additional projects include the replacement of leaking storm sewer system components and approximately 900 linear feet of the current failing wastewater collection system. The city will also continue to complete a standardized pipeline condition assessment program including televised inspections, smoke tests, lift station pump runtime data analysis, visual inspections during and following rain events and data collected from strategically placed flow monitors.

• Clay County: $1.14 million to develop an asset management plan and modernize aged facilities in order to reduce water loss in the county. Projects include the replacement of approximately two-thirds of aged service lines in the Northwest Clay Utility District with new service lines. The county will also install approximately 550 linear feet of 6-inch water main and a new meter vault near the state line which will allow each utility to transfer water as needed and better serve their respective customers in a water emergency.

• Fentress County: $5.26 million to address critical drinking water needs. Projects include raw water intake rehabilitation, new water line installation to replace aged, leaky water lines, construction of a new water booster station, replacement of an existing aged booster station, and rehabilitation of three water storage tanks in the city of Allardt.

• Macon County: $2.87 million to develop an asset management plan and address critical drinking water needs. Projects include geographic information system mapping, the installation of more than 50,000 linear feet of water line throughout the county, and water line extensions in order to provide potable drinking water to residents.

Tennessee received $3.7 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 the state. Of the $1.35 billion, approximately $1 billion was designated for non-competitive formula-based grants offered to counties and eligible cities. The remaining funds will go to state-initiated projects and competitive grants.