Cicero in line for Federal Grants to replace old water mains

Town President Larry Dominick and the Town of Cicero Board of Trustees received a report Tuesday, August 9, 2022, from Paul Rosenfeld, who is working to bring Federal Grant money to the community regarding the effort to replace old water mains.

Rosenfeld reported to the board that $2 million is included in the U.S. House water & energy appropriation bill. It has now survived in the U.S. Senate version. Once it is signed into law cicero can expect to receive the money later this year.

The funds will be used to replace older water main pipes with newer more modern water pipes that are Iron and copper.

Rosenfeld said the Federal Government passed a $1.2 trillion dollar infrastructure bill earlier this year that included $48 billion dollars to be spent in the next five years for water infrastructure upgrades and improvements to municipalities around the country and that Cicero should be a recipient of additional financial support.

Upgrading the town's water distribution system was a top priority in securing funding, Rosenfeld said.

"The costs of replacing the old water mains is overwhelming but it is important to replace them. We are doing that each year until all of them are replaced," Town President Larry Dominick said.

"Every community faces the same challenge when it comes to water mains, and we want to ensure that our citizens receive their share of Federal funding to help make this transition to new water mains throughout the community."

Rosenfeld credited Congress Jesus "Chuy" Garcia with pushing for the Federal Grants funds for Cicero.