Grants and loans worth $227 million just turned green, creating jobs and protecting waters across Washington state through 162 newly funded projects.
“ This funding represents critical investments of state and federal resources in improving and protecting the quality of our state’s waters while also supporting the health and vitality of communities throughout the state,” said Heather Bartlett, manager of Ecology’s Water Quality Program.
“In many cases these projects would have been unaffordable for local jurisdictions, potentially leaving our waters at risk. ”
State financial managers calculate that 11 jobs in Washington are created for every $1 million spent on clean water infrastructure projects.
Using this calculation, the funding will support more than 2,300 jobs, with one-third of them as construction jobs.
Ecology again will accept applications for combined financial assistance for water quality projects beginning August 17 with applications due on October 16. Ecology will hold four regional funding workshops in the last two weeks of August.