The Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority this week voted to make $50 million in grants available to fund nutrient reduction facilities in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed and combined sewer overflow projects anywhere in the state.

Applications will be accepted now through February 1, 2006 and grants will be awarded at the Authority’s March 2006 meeting.

Combined sewer overflows are the primary stream contamination problem facing many of Pennsylvania’s older cities and boroughs where sanitary and storm sewer systems were combined many years ago and now cannot handle the excessive flows of water that occur during heavy rains

Reducing nitrogen and phosphorus discharges from wastewater treatment plants is another financial burden that will be borne by existing wastewater treatment systems in the Chesapeake Bay watershed communities. Reducing these discharges is an important commitment that Pennsylvania has made under the 2000 Chesapeake Bay Agreement with its neighboring states to restore the Chesapeake Bay and its upstream water sources, in the Susquehanna and Potomac River Watersheds.

For more information, visit the PennVEST website.

9/16/2005