Created by House Bill 168, Ohio’s Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Grant Program will provide nearly $250 million to improve access to clean drinking water and wastewater infrastructure. Grants will be up to $250,000 for design projects and up to $5 million for construction projects to Ohio communities. Public entities within a political subdivision with the authority to own and operate public water and sewer systems and nonprofit, non-community public water systems may apply. Funding for the program is provided by the American Rescue Plan Act.
The program will include a specific emphasis on addressing the needs of economically disadvantaged communities, including providing safe, reliable drinking water in areas that lack infrastructure, providing sewage treatment capacity in unsewered areas, and promoting regional development of infrastructure to serve multiple communities.
The review process will also strongly consider the “readiness to proceed.” This means that those projects that already have approved engineering/design, plans, and permits and can begin construction within 1-6 months will receive a greater score on the application.
County engineers are to provide a prioritized list of 10 projects for Development’s consideration. County engineers can go to investinginohiosfuture.ohio.gov to provide Development their prioritized list. To be eligible for funding, an application will need to be completed whether a project is or is not on the prioritized list. Projects that are included on the County Engineer’s list and provide applicable supporting documentation will receive additional points awarded to the application.
Applications will be reviewed and scored as they are received. An incomplete application may result in an application not receiving funds. Grant agreements will be executed between the recipient and Ohio Department of Development. All final awards will be determined at the discretion of the Director of Development. Awards will be given for projects until funds are depleted.
To submit an online application, applicants must be registered with the OHID system. Once the registration process is complete, an application can be started and submitted at investinginohiosfuture.ohio.gov.
If you need technical assistance for the application process, please email watergrants@development.ohio.gov.