PROVIDENCE – The town of Burrillville was one of eight communities to secure a recent Action Grant from the Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank, with $750,000 in funding to be used for resiliency improvements at the Oakland Pump Station.
Located within the 100-year floodplain of the Clear River, the Oakland wastewater pump station is susceptible to flooding events, according to a release on the recently announced funding.
“Should the pump station flood and become inoperable for an extended period of time, there will be significant negative consequences on the Burrillville sewer system for its users and the community at-large,” notes a memorandum on the project by RIIB Executive Director William Fazioli. “Failure of the pump station could also lead to major environmental issues from untreated wastewater overflowing into the
river system.”
Faziolli noted that proposed long-term resiliency improvements include measures to bring the pump station up to date and increase its capacity to better handle wastewater flow. Required flood hazard mitigation steps at this site include elevating and flood-proofing the pump station, as well as incorporating native plantings to increase stormwater infiltration, to prevent damage to the vital infrastructure during severe flooding events.
The grant is among $5.2 million in awards for participants of the Municipal Resilience Program. Projects in eight communities will focus on increasing climate resilience with funding from the 2022 voter approved Green Bond. The bond provided $16 million for municipal resilience projects, and a previous round of $12 million in action grants were awarded in January 2024.
“Our cities and towns are all feeling the impacts of more frequent storms and flooding events,” said Gov. Dan McKee of the announcement. “Thanks to this funding from the 2022 Green Bond, we can help our municipalities invest in resilient infrastructure and better adapt to meet the climate change challenge. This is a great example of a program that is working, and that is why I strongly endorse the Green Bond on November’s ballot, which includes additional resilience funding, and urge Rhode Islanders to vote yes on Question 4.”
“From more frequent and severe storms, to increased flooding, to coastal erosion, Rhode Island’s municipalities are experiencing the impacts of climate change,” said Fazioli. “We need to help our cities and towns invest in more resilient infrastructure solutions, and that is what this $5.2 million in Municipal Resilience Program Action Grants will allow 8 communities across our state to do.”
With support from The Nature Conservancy, 38 of Rhode Island’s 39 municipalities have participated in the MRP workshop process to develop prioritized lists of actionable resilience plans and projects. Municipalities are then eligible to submit applications for MRP Action Grants with a 25 percent local match requirement.
For this round of MRP Action Grants, the Infrastructure Bank received 19 proposals totaling $11.4 million in grant requests, far exceeding currently available funding.
Five other communities – Johnston, Lincoln, Middletown, Providence and South Kingstown – received the $750,000 award, the highest amount awarded through the program in the latest round. The Infrastructure Bank also partnered with the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management to review applications to RIDEM’s Climate Resilience Fund, which is designed to work in tandem with MRP. The release noted that another $1.1 million from the CRF will be allocated to resiliency and habitat restoration projects across the state and RIDEM anticipates announcing CRF award winners in October.
“Rhode Island’s communities face significant and diverse risks from climate change, and the projects funded by RIIB in this round of MRP grants represent more critical investments to prepare our state for the continued impacts from climate change,” said DEM Director Terry Gray. “Rising seas, increased damage from storm events, flooding, and erosion all have obvious and measurable impacts in our neighborhoods, especially for our most vulnerable residents.”
