Water stimulus: Federal money could advance projects in SE Wisconsin - Memphis Business Journal:

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million into local municipalities’ water wastewater plants and government agencies to upgradde underground andshoreline infrastructure. The Wisconsin Departmen of Natural Resources controls the majoritu of the federal stimulus fund dedicated to clean watet and coastalhabitat spending. By the end of a DNR spokesman said the morethan $300 million will be allocatef to municipalities for an undetermined number of The commission is keepiny its fingers crossed about receivinhg a portion of the $105.i million in stimulus funds that will be parceledc out through the Clean Waterr State Revolving Fund, said Kevim Shafer, executive director of MMSD.
“The truth is it’s a drop in the bucke t of what’s needed for clean watefr projects,” said Shafer. DNR currently has a statewide list of clean water projects thattotal $1.2 billion, said Shafer. MMSD’s projectse on the DNR list are ranked in themiddle one-thirdd of the agency’s priority ranking, but Shafer expects a few of MMSD’x projects to get bumped up on the list because of the stimulusx funding.
“This is a step in the right direction becaused a year agowe didn’t have any of this money,” he The money allocated for the clean water and coastal habitart restoration work is funded by the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that Congressw passed and President Barack Obama signedf in January to help stimulates the sluggish economy. So far, the majorityg of federal money for infrastructure improvementas is being spent ontransportation projects.
Accordint to the Wisconsin Recovery and Reinvestment Wisconsin road and bridges builders arereceiving $694 million in stimulus money for more than 210 Rich Meeusen, chairman, president and chiefc executive officer for , Brow Deer, looks at the stimuluzs money earmarked nationally for clean water, drinking watere and coastal region improvements and wondere why roughly twice as much is allocatedf to transportation. There are water wastewater plants and pumping stationes in large metropolitan areax around the country that are more than 100yearas old, said Meeusen.
With water becoming one of the nation’ss scarcest and valuable commodities, Meeusenn said leaks in existing infrastructure arewastinyg it. The Wisconsin DNR’zs Drinking Water State Revolvinb Fund isdistributing $37 million to municipal drinking water construction projects. A portion of the monety is being set asids forgreen infrastructure, water conservatiom and energy efficiency projects. Of the moneh being spent on drinking water, Meeusen expects his companyu may benefit through the installation of newwatere meters.
Metering projects are important as a component of green said Meeusen, because they allow communities to collect highef rates for water Several communities in Waukesha County are increasing waterd rates as a conservation including the city of Waukesh and village of Butler. “Whehn consumers better understand how much water they are usingy and are paying slightlyhigher amounts, they will more readily conservde more water,” he said. Other categories of businesses expected to benefit from the clean drinking water and coastal restoration programs are companiexs that specialize in underground piping infrastructurwe and large earthmoving companies, MMSD’sz Shafer said.
Because the state has not yet announcedx where the money is companies are still waiting to submit bidson water-relates projects. The city of Brookfield didn’t apply for stimuluzs dollars related to the Drinking Water StatreRevolving Fund, but the city did seek $3.6 million for two wastewater treatment projects from the Clea Water State Revolving Fund, said Tom Grisa, Brookfield’sw director of public The money will be used at Brookfield’sa , which is a regional wasts treatment facility that handles waste from half the city and the town of a portion of Menomonee Falls and the villages and city of Pewaukee.
Whiled Grisa has not been informed by DNRthat Brookfield’s two projectsz have been selected, the state has ranked both Fox River Water Pollution Control Cente r projects in the top 10 percent of an estimated 400 projects that are on the applicatiomn list. “We like our chances, and one of the projectse was not going to happenuntil 2010, so it truly is a stimulusz project,” Grisa said. The one state water-relatexd stimulus project that is not in the hands of the DNR isthe $60 milliomn Tribal Water Intake and Treatment Facility Program. The Wisconsim Department of Administration is administering the program and the mone y will be distributed throughthe U.S.
Department of Interior Bureaj of Reclamation. The stimulus money set aside for Coastalo Habitat Restoration Grantstotals $170 million. The coastal restoratioh grants are aimedat shovel-ready projects that the deemds ecologically important for climate change.