Tanya Gallagher has over 15 years of experience in geospatial analysis and environmental resilience planning. She is experienced in grant writing for local governments, as well as strategic and capital improvements planning. She has 10+ years in international and regional stakeholder engagement and has successfully managed dozens of projects . She has a masters in environmental science from the University of West Florida and completed her PhD research on groundwater nitrate contamination from the University of British Columbia.

Every year hundreds of millions of dollars of state and federal grant funding are made available to utilities to improve water and sewer services to residents. The Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) on average awards nearly 120 million dollars in funding to eligible utilities through the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) and Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF). Recently, additional federal funding has been allocated to the states increasing the amount of grant opportunities for the construction of new water systems, the expansion or repair of existing water systems, and the consolidation of new or existing water systems.

Despite the funding opportunities that are available, navigating the eligibility criteria, application process, and requirements can often be difficult and time consuming. In this presentation, we will give an overview of the state and federal funding opportunities that are currently available to water utilities and communities seeking to improve water and wastewater systems. We will provide a how to guide on the Notice of Funding Opportunity process for successfully applying to state and federal grants as well as how to leverage community partnerships for funding. We will also discuss how Covid-19 relief funds, American Rescue Plan Funds (ARPA), cybersecurity funding, and the newly adopted Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds are being dispersed and how these funds can be leveraged to address issues such as Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) and other emerging contaminants, replacing lead service lines, and infrastructure improvement projects that make water and wastewater systems more resilient to all threats.