Governor Stein, Department of Environmental Quality Announce $472 Million for Drinking Water and Wastewater Projects

Governor Josh Stein announced today that 145 projects in 66 counties across the state will receive more than $472 million in funding for drinking water and wastewater infrastructure projects. The awards will help cities, towns and counties strengthen infrastructure to better withstand future storms, improve existing drinking water and wastewater infrastructure, reduce contamination by forever chemicals, and identify and replace lead pipes.

“After Hurricane Helene, tens of thousands of North Carolinians were without access to clean and reliable water for weeks. Upgrading our state’s aging water infrastructure must be a priority," said Governor Josh Stein. “These investments will make our infrastructure more resilient in the face of future severe weather or disasters and improve access to clean drinking water for North Carolinians across the state.”

“Families and businesses expect and deserve safe water when they turn on the tap,” said DEQ Secretary Reid Wilson. “The funded projects will strengthen aging drinking water and wastewater systems and will support healthy communities and a growing economy.”

Projects include:

• The Cape Fear Public Utility Authority will receive $17.8 million in Clean Water State Revolving Funds (CWSRF) and State Wastewater Reserve Program loans for the Southside Wastewater Treatment Plant Project.
• The City of Goldsboro (Wayne County) will receive $33 million in Drinking Water State Revolving Funds (DWSRF) and a State Drinking Water Reserve Program loan to construct a treatment project to remove contamination by PFAS, which are also called forever chemicals.
• The Town of Newland (Avery County) will receive $10 million in DWSRF Helene funds for its Newland Drinking Water System Resiliency Improvement project. 
• The Town of Forest City (Rutherford County) will receive $5 million in CWSRF Helene funds for its Sewer System Resiliency Improvements project.  
• The City of Winston-Salem (Forsyth County) will receive $1.3 million in DWSRF Lead Service Line Replacement funds for its Lead Service Line Zone 5 Find and Replace Project.
• The Town of Woodland (Northampton County) will receive $3 million in Community Development Block Grant-Infrastructure funds for its Wastewater Treatment Plant Rehabilitation Project. 
• The Town of Princeton (Johnston County) will receive a $400,000 Merger/Regionalization Feasibility Grant for its Merger Regionalization Feasibility Project.  
• The City of Belmont (Gaston County) will receive $400,000 for Asset Inventory and Assessment grants for their drinking water and sewer systems. 
• The Town of Grifton (Pitt County) will receive a $5.98 million Viable Utility Reserve grant to replace five wastewater pump stations. 
• McDowell County will receive $3.5 million in DWSRF funds for the Providence Hill Water Line Extension project. 
• The Town of Hot Springs (Madison County) will receive a $3.2 million State Reserve Grant for a Housing Authority Sewer to Main Wastewater Treatment Plant Helene project. 
• The Town of Southern Pines (Moore County) will receive $5 million in CWSRF loans for its Sewer Rehabilitation and Replacement project.  

A list of all projects selected for funding is available on the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ) website.

NC DEQ’s Division of Water Infrastructure reviewed 198 eligible applications, which requested a total of $1.89 billion. The State Water Infrastructure Authority approved the awards during its Feb. 18 meeting. The authority is an independent body with primary responsibility for awarding federal and state funding for water infrastructure projects.  

Funding this round came from:

• The State Revolving Funds (SRFs), which provide low-interest loans (including loans that may be partially forgiven) for drinking water and wastewater projects. 
• The SRF Supplemental Appropriations for Hurricanes Helene and Milton and Hawai’i Wildfires (SRF Helene) funding, which provides principal forgiveness and zero-interest loans for eligible drinking water, wastewater and septic systems for Hurricane Helene-damaged communities. 
• The Community Development Block Grant-Infrastructure (CDBG-I) program, which provides grants to fund projects in areas that meet the U.S. Housing and Urban Development low- to moderate-income threshold.  
• The State Reserve Program for construction projects, in which grant funding is prioritized for applicants from counties that have populations of less than 300,000 and that were most damaged by Hurricane Helene.
• The state Viable Utility Reserve grant funding for drinking water and wastewater projects that move a local government unit designated as distressed toward viability. This includes grant funding for Asset Inventory and Assessment grants and Merger/Regionalization Feasibility grants. 

The Division of Water Infrastructure’s spring 2026 funding round begins February 23. Applications are due by 5 p.m. on April 30, 2026.  

The Division of Water Infrastructure will conduct in-person funding application training for the spring 2026 funding round Feb. 23 through March 4 at three locations: Hickory, Greenville, and Research Triangle Park/Durham. A virtual option via Webex will also be available on March 4, and a recording of the training will be posted on the division’s application training web page.

March 2 is the final application deadline for funds for Helene drinking water, wastewater and septic system resiliency projects. 

Learn more about the Division of Water Infrastructure’s funding programs here.