Nearly $20 million in drinking water funding announced

Senator Collins today announced that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will distribute $19,500,000 in federal Drinking Water State Funding to the Maine Department of Health and Human Services.

The funding is being distributed to Maine through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Senator Collins worked with a bipartisan group of senators to craft the legislation that became law in February.

The funding will be used to provide low interest loans for water quality protection projects for wastewater treatment, non-point source pollution control, and watershed and estuary management.

Senator Collins released the following statement:

“Clean drinking water is vital to the health of any community. This funding will create jobs and help enable Maine’s communities to continue their ongoing work to make needed upgrades to the state’s aging public works infrastructure which will result in a safer, and cleaner, water system,” said Senator Collins.