CNMI getting $11M more to modernize drinking water system
The CNMI is receiving another $11 million in federal funds to repair and modernize its public drinking water system, according to Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (D-MP) over the weekend.
Sablan disclosed in his e-kilili newsletter that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Tuesday about the $11,007,000 in fiscal year 2025 allotments for the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund.
He said it is for the fourth of five years in the Biden/Harris administration’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Public Law 117-58, which U.S. Congress passed in 2021, and is an increase from the $10,160,000 awarded to the CNMI last year.
According to the EPA, of the $2.6 billion in total SRF funds for FY 2025, Guam is receiving $10,084,000 in SRF, while American Samoa and Virgin Islands are getting $7,181,000 and $9,075,000, respectively.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provides $50 billion to the EPA to strengthen the nation’s drinking water and wastewater systems.
Anita Maria Thompkins, EPA Drinking Water Infrastructure Development Division director, in a memorandum to Water Division directors SRF Branch Chiefs Regions 1-10 on Tuesday, stated that it is the single largest investment in clean water that the federal government has ever made.
Thompkins said the EPA’s oversight role of the SRF programs along with a commitment to provide technical assistance to states and communities is critical to ensuring that states meet the BIL priorities.
She said EPA regions should ensure the state SRF managers are aware that, per the BIL statute, state match remains 20% for the 2025 BIL general supplemental.
Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan
