Helene washed out sewer pipes, overflowed septic systems, and washed water treatment plants into rivers all over. Much of this infrastructure was old, and extreme rainfall caused by climate change poses new risks. A new tranche of funding from the Environmental Protection Agency could help communities fix this expensive damage - including, for the first time, septic systems.
This $337 million in new funding, announced Wednesday, is being paid to the state to repair Western North Carolina water and sewer systems damaged by Helene - and help communities prepare for future disasters.
The newly established Decentralized Clean Water Safe Revolving Fund also awarded North Carolina over $22 million to improve the resilience of septic systems and assess and connect homes served by septic systems to centralized wastewater systems.
This follows $409 million appropriated in July for drinking water infrastructure improvements. The funding was appropriated by the American Relief Act, which Congress passed in December.
The funds will be administered through the state’s Clean Water Revolving Loan Fund, and could help communities harden their water and sewer systems for the future, said Brian Smith, deputy director for the agency’s water division.
“This funding is intended to go to the next level to build more resilient projects,” Smith said.
Hot Springs Mayor Abby Norton said the town had already applied for $5 million from the fund for drinking water and $5 million for wastewater.
Damage was extensive, and water systems with Helene damage are still springing leaks. In Hot Springs, water tanks lost their backup generator right after the storm. Months later, the town found the storm had exposed a buried water line, making it vulnerable to further damage. Even worse is the sewer situation.
“Wastewater was and still is our largest damage expense,” said Norton. The river took out multiple sewer lines and flooded the wastewater treatment plant, and destroyed septic systems. Because the town originally installed these septic systems, thetown is on the hook to fix five of them.
The federal EPA funding could go to backup generators for water systems, repair water lines, and move treatment plants entirely.
Smith said new plans for increasingly severe storms are needed.
“Most utilities make plans for the 100-year storm,” Smith said. “That's what they are designed to do in terms of how stormwater is managed through urban areas. And we've seen storms that exceed 500-year rainfall events.”
