The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds were distributed and provided to municipalities by the federal government in response to the pandemic. ARPA funds have set acceptable uses in aspects they may be spent, including toward water and sewer infrastructure.

As part of its Capital Improvement Plan, the city has identified $4.3 million worth of projects that are water, sewer, and stormwater focused.

One criterion used to prioritize projects was if the projects helped the city’s wastewater treatment plant meet compliance requirements, thereby avoiding permit violations and penalties. "We’re trying to focus on things that will reduce wild-water flow at the treatment plant," Wieprecht said.

The City has been budgeting for incremental infrastructure improvements on Roberts Mill Rd. for several years, but now that ARPA funds are available to fund the water, sewer, and stormwater portions of the project, the work can begin in earnest, he said. This includes installation of new water, sewer, and storm lines, as well as upgrades to road surfaces and installation of new curbing.

"So instead of all of cost being paid by City funds, now only repairs not related to the water & sewer infrastructure will have to be paid out of pocket," he said.

The City’s water and sewer improvement efforts are needed to reduce wild water flow at the treatment plant to help regain compliance. The goal is to "save the city money by processing less rainwater as opposed to sewage," according to Wieprecht.

During the extreme rain events, the inflow of water into the storm water system has been at times so great that it was coming out of manholes "So much rainwater gets into the system and ultimately the volume of liquid exceeds the capacity of the waste treatment plant to handle it," he said.

At the December City Council meeting, the council approved CDM Smith, the City’s contract engineering firm, to perform the design of the Roberts Mill Rd. and Broad St. reconstruction project and to help the town review bids for the actual re-construction work. The project design phase will cost $298,300.

Broad St. was included in the project because it connects Robert’s Mill Rd. to East Baltimore St., along which the sewer line runs to the wastewater treatment facility.

Before the distribution of the ARPA funding, funding for the initial phase of the project had been budgeted in this year’s City’s Capital Improvement Fund, Mayor Wantz said. "Now with ARPA funds available, we intend to fund the majority of the project with ARPA funds. In doing so, we save funds in the City’s Capital Improvement Fund for other needs."