EPA awards $500 million in water infrastructure grants to Georgia
Key Highlights
- The EPA awarded Georgia %500 million to strengthen water infrastructure resilience after Hurricane Helene.
- Funding categories include wastewater, decentralized systems, drinking water, and emergency response projects.
- Eligible communities must demonstrate hurricane impacts and propose projects to reduce flood risks and enhance system resilience.
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded Georgia $499,385,000 to help communities impacted by Hurricane Helene strengthen the resilience of drinking water and wastewater infrastructure and respond to water-related emergencies.
This funding is a result of the 2025 American Relief Act and will be administered by the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority (GEFA).
To be eligible for Helene Resilience Funding (HRF), communities must demonstrate impacts from Hurricane Helene and propose an eligible project designed to reduce the risk and vulnerability of flood damage or enhance the resilience of drinking water and wastewater systems to rapid hydrologic changes or natural disasters.
In preparation for the final award of the funding, GEFA issued a call for projects in the fall of 2025. A list of submitted and fundable projects is available on GEFA’s website. GEFA also received funding under the American Relief Act to assist communities in responding to drinking water and wastewater emergencies.
The total Helene-related funding awarded to GEFA is distributed across five funding categories:
- HRF wastewater: $124.9 million
- HRF decentralized wastewater (septic systems): $8.96 million
- HRF drinking water: $359.5 million
- Emergency wastewater: $3.3 million
- Emergency drinking water: $2.75 million
The first group of individual project awards will be presented to the GEFA board of directors for consideration at its November meeting.