By Patrick Adrian
EAGLE TIMES STAFF
CHARLESTOWN — Charlestown was awarded nearly $4.3 million this week in federal funds to aid the town’s long-sought drinking water project to improve water quality in North Charlestown.
Town officials were notified this week of $4,289,000 in total federal funds being awarded to Charlestown by the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) to fund the municipality’s interconnect project, which will connect Charlestown’s primary well to 134 public water users in North Charlestown whose well water has arsenic levels that exceed state regulations.
The funding includes a grant of $1,286,700 from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) and a loan of $3,002,300 from the Drinking Water State Revolving Loan Fund. Charlestown will be eligible for forgiveness of the loan principal. The amount of that forgiveness will be determined once the project is complete.
In 2021, Charlestown voters at Town Meeting Day authorized the town to seek up to $4.6 million in bonds or grants to fund the project, though no bond was proposed at that time.
Charlestown Selectboard member Shelly Andrus said this funding will help the town to provide clean water to all residents and enable the town to expand the access to public water into unserved areas of town.
“This is the first step forward for Charlestown in upgrading resources and services that we provide and is just the beginning to a brighter and cleaner future for our residents,” Andrus told the Eagle Times.
The Charlestown project is the first to receive final approval of ARPA infrastructure funding in New Hampshire. Gov. Chris Sununu and the Executive Council approved Charlestown’s project for funding on Wednesday.
“We are tackling clean drinking water issues head-on,” said Gov. Chris Sununu. “We are making strategic, life-saving improvements to our state’s water infrastructure and these one-time investments will benefit Granite Staters for generations to come.”
The Charlestown Selectboard had considered numerous options to address the well contamination in North Charlestown, including new well drilling and enhanced filters. The board eventually concluded that connecting North Charlestown to its primary Charlestown supply was the best-long term choice, after research and consultation with engineers and Charlestown’s water superintendent.
This project will include the construction of a booster pump station to address low-pressure issues in North Charlestown’s existing water system.
ARPA, a $1.9 trillion economic stimulus bill aimed to speed up the county’s economic recovery from the impacts of the novel coronavirus pandemic and resulting recession, was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on March 10, 2021, and signed the following day by President Joe Biden.
reporter @eagletimes.com
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