Gov. Kathy Hochul, in a press release issued today, announced that more than $272 million is being awarded to 179 projects to protect and improve water quality.

These awards are in addition to the $196 million awarded to 488 projects from multiple State Agency programs through Round XI of the Governor's Regional Economic Development Council Initiative announced last week to stimulate New York's post-pandemic economic recovery.

“Our state's economic development goals cannot be achieved without clean water for drinking, recreation, and the overall quality of life New Yorkers expect and deserve,” Hochul said. “These sustained investments in water quality improve the health of our communities while creating economic opportunity through well paying, long lasting jobs.”

The Water Quality Improvement Project grant program is administered by the state Department of Environmental Conservation and funds projects that directly address documented water quality impairments or protect a drinking water source.

Genesee County grants -- all to install ultraviolent effluent disinfection at the municipalities’ wastewater treatment plants -- will go to the following initiatives:

• Town of Pavilion: This project will improve the quality of treated effluent entering the Oatka Creek. $428,000.

• Village of Bergen: This project will improve water quality by reducing pathogens in the plant's discharge. $137,500.

• Village of Elba: This project will improve the quality of treated effluent entering the Oak Orchard Creek Tributary. $288,750.

• Village of Le Roy: This project will improve water quality by reducing pathogens in the treatment facility's discharge to the Oatka Creek. $1,000,000.