Missouri Governor Parson Announces $410 Million in Community Water Infrastructure Grants

Ted BojorquezNovember 18, 2022

Pipe Upgrades — Pipe upgrades(AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

(JEFFERSON CITY, MO) – Governor Mike Parson today announced the Missouri Department of Natural Resources is awarding $410 million to help Missouri communities improve drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure as well as lead service line inventories.

“We knew this program was critically needed for communities across our state, and that’s why we included it in this year’s budget,” Governor Parson said. “While we know more is still needed to upgrade our infrastructure and ensure reliable water resources for the next generations, these grants will leverage even greater local and private investments to help boost our competitiveness for economic development projects and ensure our communities in every corner of Missouri are finding success.”

“We received approximately 1,000 applications requesting more than $2.4 billion in funding,” said Dru Buntin, director of the Department of Natural Resources. “We designed the specific scoring criteria to ensure that the limited funds available are awarded to projects in a way that maximizes the impact of those funds across Missouri – in communities both urban and rural, large and small.”

Funding for the department’s four competitive water infrastructure grant programs was made available through American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) State Fiscal Recovery Funds. Applications were scored based on the applicant’s financial need, engineering capability, and necessity of the project. Given the limited amount of funding, this resulted in a highly competitive application environment.

Applicants, whether successful or unsuccessful, will receive a notification email from the State of Missouri’s ARPA funding portal detailing the status and score of their application.

The department announced the availability of $410 million for community water infrastructure grants in May. The application period closed July 14. The program was part of Governor Parson’s Fiscal Year 2023 Budget Proposal to the Missouri General Assembly.