RALEIGH — More than $1.19 million is headed to Bladen County, all to be used for water infrastructure.

The State Water Infrastructure Authority has approved more than $240 million in loans and grants for 127 projects statewide, all aimed at improving or replacing North Carolina water and wastewater infrastructure.

Three Bladen County municipalities are the recipients of four of the grants:

— The largest amount will go to Dublin, which will receive $640,000 in funding for Hurricane Matthew projects. The town will use it for water line replacement.

— Also utilizing Hurricane Matthew money will be Bladenboro, which will receive $250,000 to purchase utility systems backup generators.

— From the Asset Inventory and Assessment Grant, Elizabethtown will receive funding for two projects, to the tune of $150,000 each. The town will use the money to inventory its wastewater and water systems.

Funding for this round is awarded through the Community Development Block Grant-Infrastructure program, the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund loan program, Drinking Water State Reserve program, Clean Water State Revolving Fund loan program, and the Wastewater State Reserve program, all administered through the Division of Water Infrastructure.

“From water quality to economic growth and protecting public health, we are proud to partner with North Carolina towns and cities to strengthen their communities’ access to clean water through this funding,” said Michael S. Regan, secretary of the N. C. Department of Environmental Quality. “Everyone should be able to rely on their water supply, and this funding supports projects that do just that.”

This was the final application round to use funds from the Connect NC Bond. The authority determined the eligibility of applications selected to receive funding from the available funding sources listed above. The approved funding provides the best funding available for a given project application and maximizes the utilization of Connect NC Bond loan funds.

The authority prioritized portions of the Community Development Block Grant-Infrastructure funding for Hurricane Matthew-related projects. This resulted in funding for eight projects, for a total of more than $9.8 million.

A full summary of funding approved by the authority and a list all of the funded projects statewide is available at: http://portal.ncdenr.org/c/document_library/get_file?uuid=f4cdffa8-3e9d-4c87-9d98-c405f79d3c9a&groupId=14655572.

Staff report