FEMA Awards Over $1 Million to New Haven for Wind Proofing Water Treatment Plant

BOSTON – The Federal Emergency Management Agency will be sending more than $1 million to the State of Connecticut to reimburse New Haven’s regional water utility for part of the cost of strengthening its treatment plant against future storms.

The $1,002,600 FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant Program award will reimburse the Greater New Haven Water Pollution Control Authority (GNHWPCA) for part of the cost of fortifying the East Shore Water Pollution Abatement Facility, located on the shore of the New Haven Harbor, against wind damage.

The $1,114,000 project will fund retrofitting the window and doors of the operations, maintenance, inlet works, substation 2, substation 3, garage, and generator buildings, as well as roof retrofits at substation 3, inlet works, generator and chlorine buildings.

The GNHWPCA administration building at 260 East Street, which serves as an Emergency Operations Center, will be retrofitted for windows and a door.

The funding for the project is part of a pool of grant money provided to the state after Tropical Storm Isaias in August 2020. FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program provides funding to state, local, tribal and territorial governments so they can develop hazard mitigation plans and rebuild in a way that reduces future disaster losses in their communities.

After a presidentially declared disaster, states receive HMGP money equal to a percentage of the total grants authorized under other FEMA assistance programs. The state then administers the HMGP grants locally, which can pay for projects that reduce flooding, or to elevate or even buy out flood-prone homes.

“FEMA is pleased to be able to assist the Greater New Haven Water Pollution Control Authority with these costs,” said FEMA Region I Regional Administrator Lori Ehrlich. “Studies have demonstrated that for every dollar invested in mitigation, six dollars are saved in prevented losses. It’s always better to spend money to prevent a disaster than to pay for cleaning up afterward.”

So far, FEMA has provided more than $38 million in Public Assistance grants to Connecticut to reimburse the state and eligible communities for the costs of cleaning up after Tropical Storm Isaias.

Additional information about FEMA’s Public Assistance program is available at https://www.fema.gov/public-assistance-local-state-tribal-and-non-profit. To learn more about the Isaias recovery in Connecticut, please visit https://www.fema.gov/disaster/4580.