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| Funding Wilson Fought to Secure North & South Valley Deliverd by EPA |
July 15, 2000 |
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| North and South Valley Receive $5.7 Million to Expand Water and Sewer Service
WASHINGTON, DC –During a ceremony this morning attended by Congresswoman Heather Wilson, Environmental Protection Agency Regional Administrator Gregg Cooke and other local officials, $5.7 million in federal funding that Wilson and Senator Pete Domenici secured last year was awarded to Bernalillo County to upgrade wastewater systems in Albuquerque’s North and South Valley.
Wilson and Domenici worked to secure the funding last year as part of the FY 2000 Veterans Affairs, Housing and Urban Development and Independent Agency (VA-HUD) Appropriations Bill. The lawmakers requested the funding to help address the more than 4,000 homes in the North and South Valley with leaking septic tanks.
“People who live in the North and South Valleys should have clean water. Old septic systems and increasing populations have contaminated a lot of the water people use to drink and bathe. These funds combined with state and local funding will provide much needed relief to residents of the North and South Valley and I am very happy that the EPA has finally made the funds available,” Wilson said.
Earlier this year, Congresswoman Wilson and Senator Domenici submitted requests to the House and Senate appropriations committees for an additional $18 million in Environmental Protection Agency “Special Needs” program funding for the project. Wilson and Domenici are hopeful that they will be able to secure additional funds in this years EPA budget, which should be completed this fall.
The New Mexico State Legislature leadership, the mayor of Albuquerque and the Bernalillo County Commission chairman have signed a Joint Powers Agreement to work together to solve the North and South Valleys’ water and wastewater infrastructure deficiencies.
In addition to the requested federal funding, there is a significant commitment of state and local matching funds to the North and South Valley projects. The state has committed $20 million in severance tax revenues to the project, while the city of Albuquerque and Bernalillo County are issuing $21 million and $30 million, respectively, in revenue bonds for this work.
Congresswoman Wilson was also able to secure $330,000 for the South Valley Flood Management project. This funding will help complete an ongoing feasibility study being done by the US Army Corps of Engineers.
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