Infrastructure Bank Awards $1.4 Million Grant To URI Cooperative Extension For PFAS Detection & Monitoring

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank, the state’s central hub for financing infrastructure improvements for municipalities, businesses, and homeowners, has awarded a $1,430,898 grant to the University of Rhode Island’s Cooperative Extension to continue the Extension’s work assisting the Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH) and the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) to identify possible reasons why groundwater and surface water might be contaminated with PFAS. Public water systems use the groundwater and surface water to supply customers with drinking water. Grant funding was made available via the Environmental Protection Agency’s Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation (WIIN) Emerging Contaminants program and complements related federal funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL).

“The University of Rhode Island’s Cooperative Extension and Water Quality Program have some of the top researchers in the nation working with state officials to identify and monitor the sources of PFAS that are impacting public and private water systems across the state,”
Infrastructure Bank Executive Director William Fazioli. “This $1.4 million Emerging Contaminants grant will allow URI to continue this critical work, in partnership with the Rhode Island Department of Health, so that we can identify drinking water sources impacted by PFAS, and then develop infrastructure solutions to remove these and other emerging contaminants.”

“The range of expertise we have in the Water Quality Program makes us particularly well-suited to investigate this problem through a variety of lenses,”
Lisa DeProspo Philo, co-director of the University of Rhode Island’s Rhode Island Nonpoint Education for Municipal Officials program. “This grant from the Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank will provide important financial resources to support this work. Our goal is to examine the prevalence and possible sources of PFAS and to use that information to determine how best to tackle the problem and to engage the public so they understand their actual risks. We’ve been working on drinking water, wastewater, and watershed issues for decades, and that experience will be critical as we tackle these emerging contaminants of concern.”

“Working to assure safe drinking water for all Rhode Islanders is a core responsibility of the Department of Health,”
Director of Health Jerome Larkin, MD. “The work of our colleagues at URI is critical and necessary. It supports RIDOH’s ongoing collaboration with DEM and RIIB as we work to address and minimize the impacts of PFAS in drinking water.”

Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank is Rhode Island’s central hub for financing infrastructure improvements for municipalities, businesses, and homeowners. We leverage capital in a revolving fund to offer innovative financing for an array of infrastructure-based projects including water and wastewater, road and bridge, energy efficiency and renewable energy, and brownfield remediation. These quality-of-life projects improve the State’s infrastructure, create jobs, promote economic development, and enhance the environment. www.riib.org – Facebook: @RIinfrastructure – Twitter: @RI_InfraBank

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