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Plymouth Gets $13M For Water System Upgrades

USDA

The town of Plymouth is getting $5.5 million in federal grants and more than $7 million in loans to upgrade its aging water and sewer systems.

The money is from the rural development arm of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. New Hampshire’s Congressional delegation praised the funding in a joint statement this week.

Plymouth Village Water & Sewer District superintendent Jason Randall says money will help pay for several major infrastructure projects, costing more than $17 million in total. 

He says some of the town and district’s water and sewer infrastructure dates to 1910, and can’t keep up with rising demand or new contamination issues.

The projects the district is planning include several new water and sewer mains and upgrades to pumping stations and wastewater disposal facilities. Construction will run this year through 2020.

Randall says they’re still hoping for state funding for another big project – drilling a new water well, the district’s first in 50 years, in Holderness.

Those funds may come from the state’s drinking water revolving fund, which received another $16 million in federal dollars this week.

Ratepayers approved bonding for all the projects in March and will see an increase in their bills as a result, spread out over the next several years. Randall says that increase will be much less thanks to the government grants and loans.

Annie has covered the environment, energy, climate change and the Seacoast region for NHPR since 2017. She leads the newsroom's climate reporting project, By Degrees.
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