EAST ALTON/WOOD RIVER - Local communities have received $5.8 million for water infrastructure projects.
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On Monday, Nov. 25, 2024, Congresswoman Nikki Budzinski traveled to East Alton to present the Village of East Alton with a $5 million check for improvements at the East Alton Water Treatment Plant. Budzinski also presented the City of Wood River with a $850,000 check to construct a detention pond.
“In our communities, water infrastructure is something that is so critically important,” Budzinski said. “It’s why I was so glad to submit two of my 15 community project funds right here, one in East Alton and then also the other in Wood River.”
The East Alton Water Treatment Plant upgrade funding was requested by Budzinski and Senators Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth. These funds will be used to bring the East Alton Water Treatment Plant up to current Environmental Protection Agency standards and increase its production from 3 million gallons per day to 4.5 million gallons per day.
East Alton Mayor Darren Carlton noted that these improvements will help as Wieland’s brass mill expands. He said that approximately half of the water produced by the East Alton Water Treatment Plant goes to the village’s industrial partners, including Wieland, and the $5 million of federal assistance will be “a launch point” for the plant’s upgrades.
“Through Wieland’s significant investment in expanding the brass mill operation, the village is looking forward to reasserting its role as a vital industrial partner and driver of growth in the region,” Carlton said. “To expand and further our partnership with this industrial base, the village must provide critical support by meeting the water needs of our existing customers and growing needs of our industrial base led by the Wieland expansion.”
He added that the expansion will also assist the village in its treatment of chemicals like per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). He thanked Budzinski for her efforts in securing the funding. In total, Budzinski secured $136.1 million for community projects throughout Illinois’ 13th Congressional District during the House of Representatives’ Community Project Funding process.
Wood River Mayor Tom Stalcup echoed Carlton’s appreciation for Budzinski’s work. He explained that the $850,000 check will be used to build a detention pond on Ninth Street, which will lower the base flood elevation in parts of Wood River.
“We want to thank Representative Budzinski for all her work that she’s done to bring the $850,000 to Wood River here to help stop the flooding issues down in the Sixth Street/Ninth Street area, which would also include part of East Alton in that project,” Stalcup said. “We just want to thank her and all the efforts that she’s put forward towards the City of Wood River.”
Budzinski added that her team worked with Carlton and Stalcup on the application process for this funding. She said these community projects start on a local level, and she expressed her excitement to see these funds delivered to local communities in Illinois.
“It starts locally and it goes all the way to Washington, and then today is really just the culmination of a lot of work at all levels of government to bring these funds home,” she said. “Investment in water infrastructure is critical for public safety, for economic development, for the vitality of our communities, and so I’m just proud to be a part of this and working with the great mayors in these areas to bring these deliverables home.”
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