The Minnesota Public Facilities Authority (MPFA) has announced $88.6 million in loans and grants for 12 wastewater and drinking water infrastructure projects spread across nine cities in the state. A significant share of the funding, close to 4,000 lead service lines, will go toward removing lead pipes and replacing them with copper, part of a broader effort to modernize aging water systems and protect public health.
The projects cover a wide range of infrastructure needs, from lead pipe replacement and sanitary sewer rehabilitation to watermain upgrades, treatment plant improvements and new filtration systems to address manganese and iron in local water supplies. Communities receiving funding range from the state capital to small towns such as Amboy, Elbow Lake, Marble and Scandia, reflecting the MPFA’s role in supporting both major urban utilities and rural systems with limited resources of their own.
Most of the funding draws from the state’s Clean Water Revolving Fund and Drinking Water Revolving Fund, complemented by resources from the Point Source Implementation Grant program, the Water Infrastructure Fund and the Small Community Wastewater Treatment Program.
Matt Varilek, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, which oversees the MPFA, framed the announcement in economic terms, describing MPFA funding as essential for communities to invest in infrastructure that safeguards public health and the environment, and noting that reliable, clean drinking water underpins long term economic growth across the state.
Since it was established in 1987, the MPFA has directed close to $7.7 billion toward public infrastructure programs statewide, reaching nearly every community in Minnesota.
Three projects account for more than three quarters of the total funding:
- Saint Paul, $41,940,000. The largest award in this round funds two projects to replace a combined 2,160 lead service lines with copper piping, the biggest single commitment to lead pipe removal in the announcement.
- Duluth, $22,075,911. Funds two projects replacing 704 lead service lines with copper piping, reimbursing construction work already completed by the city.
- Sacred Heart, $7,514,281. Covers an upgrade of the water treatment plant’s salt softening system and an expansion of the biosolids storage facility, increasing capacity to handle a growing waste load.
