New York WQIP Grant Awards Total $249M for 181 Water Quality Projects

The New York WQIP grant awards announced Friday, October 30, 2026, total more than $249 million for 181 water quality projects across the state, according to Governor Kathy Hochul’s office (LongIsland.com). The round puts at least $10 million each into several municipal wastewater treatment and sewer projects, including two in the Finger Lakes region, and funds dozens of salt storage buildings, culvert replacements, dam repairs and stream restoration jobs that will move toward design and bidding.

What Happened

The awards come through two Department of Environmental Conservation programs. The Water Quality Improvement Project program, known as WQIP, received more than $246 million for 139 projects, and the Non-Agricultural Nonpoint Source and MS4 Planning Grant program received more than $2.9 million for 42 planning and mapping projects (LongIsland.com). The state said more than $206 million of the total will benefit environmental justice communities (Utica Phoenix).

The projects were selected through the state’s Consolidated Funding Application process. WQIP money comes from the 2022 Clean Water, Clean Air and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act, the Environmental Protection Fund and Clean Water Infrastructure funding, while the planning grants are paid from the Environmental Protection Fund (LongIsland.com). More than $42 million of the WQIP total comes from the Bond Act and supports 49 projects (Utica Phoenix). DEC lists the current cycle as Round 22 and says the next application period is expected to open in May 2027 (DEC).

Hochul said in the announcement that “access to clean water is a fundamental human right” and pointed to record state spending on water quality (WETM).

What Is Confirmed

Statewide totals

• More than $249 million for 181 projects in total (LongIsland.com).
• About $122 million for 63 projects in watersheds affected by harmful algal blooms or covered by a state action plan (Utica Phoenix).
• $17 million for salt storage and road salt reduction under the state’s “Don’t Be Salty, New York” effort (Utica Phoenix).
• 24 projects on the award list are classified as wastewater treatment improvements (DEC award list).

Large wastewater and sewer awards

The biggest single grants are $10 million awards. The state named the Cayuga County Water and Sewer Authority, which will extend sewer service along about nine miles of Cayuga Lake in Ledyard and Genoa to connect homes with failing septic systems to the Village of Aurora treatment plant; the Niagara Falls Water Board, which will convert its plant to biological treatment to meet new effluent limits; and the Town of Elizabethtown, which will build a new wastewater treatment plant in the Lake Champlain watershed (LongIsland.com).

DEC’s full award list adds more work close to Rochester. The Village of Honeoye Falls and the Village of Avon each received $10 million for wastewater treatment plant improvements, the Town of Varick received $7,636,800 for Sewer District No. 4, and the Town of Fayette received $7,470,820 for a sewer extension (DEC award list). Elsewhere upstate, Chautauqua County received $10 million for a Phase III sewer extension, and the Village of Tully in Onondaga County received $5,936,352 for plant improvements (DEC award list).

Finger Lakes and Monroe County awards

• Monroe County Department of Transportation: $400,000 for a vacuum truck for stormwater areas (DEC award list).
• Town of Rush: $400,000 for salt storage (DEC award list).
• Town of Bristol: $813,400 for the Mill Creek stream culvert replacement (DEC award list).
• Town of Richmond: $621,200 for Honeoye Creek streambank stabilization (DEC award list).
• Town of Canandaigua: $475,000 to permanently protect a 35-acre parcel near Canandaigua Lake (LongIsland.com).
• Ducks Unlimited: $1,865,000 for phase 2 of the Montezuma wetland restoration in Cayuga, Seneca and Wayne counties (DEC award list).
• Orleans County Soil and Water Conservation District: $482,000 each for salt storage facilities in the towns of Carlton and Ridgeway (DEC award list).

Other named projects

The announcement also named $2.5 million for repairs to the Lower Wiccopee Dam in Peekskill, $1.5 million to rehabilitate the Burden Lake dam in Rensselaer County, $2 million for a culvert replacement in the Town of Annsville, $600,000 for an enclosed sand and salt storage building in Franklin County and $940,617 for Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper to restore habitat along Cayuga Creek (LongIsland.com). Chemung County will use its $400,000 grant to buy a vacuum truck that cleans catch basins and stormwater lines on a regular schedule (WETM).

What It Means for Owners and Contractors

For contractors, the practical value of this round is in the work types. Treatment plant upgrades, sewer extensions, salt storage buildings, culvert replacements and dam rehabilitation all become bid packages once municipalities finish design and permitting. The $10 million wastewater grants for Honeoye Falls and Avon put two sizable plant projects in Monroe and Livingston counties onto the regional pipeline, and the Varick and Fayette sewer extensions add more utility work in Seneca County (DEC award list).

The salt storage awards are worth watching for building contractors. Enclosed sand and salt storage buildings for towns such as Rush, Carlton, Ridgeway and Seneca Falls are vertical building projects suited to regional general and site contractors. This round follows several other recent state water funding actions, including the nearly $500 million in water infrastructure grants announced October 20 and the $200 million EFC approval that included $5 million for Rochester filters, adding to the pipeline of municipal water work across Upstate New York.

Grant awards are not construction contracts. The announcement does not give design schedules, bid dates or construction start dates for individual projects, and many municipal recipients will still need engineering, environmental review and local approvals before work goes out to bid.

What to Watch

• Engineering selections and bid notices from the larger recipients, including Honeoye Falls, Avon, Varick, Fayette, Chautauqua County and the Niagara Falls Water Board.
• Whether recipients pair these grants with other state funding, such as Clean Water for Housing grants or Environmental Facilities Corporation financing.
• The next WQIP application period, which DEC expects to open in May 2027 (DEC).

Key Questions

How much did New York award in WQIP grants in October 2026?

On October 30, 2026, New York announced more than $249 million for 181 water quality projects, including more than $246 million for 139 Water Quality Improvement Project grants and more than $2.9 million for 42 planning grants (LongIsland.com).

Which Rochester-area projects received WQIP grants?

The DEC award list shows $10 million each for wastewater treatment plant improvements in the Village of Honeoye Falls and the Village of Avon, $400,000 for a Monroe County DOT vacuum truck, $400,000 for salt storage in the Town of Rush and $621,200 for Honeoye Creek streambank work in the Town of Richmond (DEC award list).

When does the next WQIP grant round open?

DEC says the next application period, Round 23, is expected to open in May 2027 (DEC).

When will construction start on the funded projects?

That is not yet known. The state did not publish construction schedules for individual projects, and recipients set their own design and bidding timelines (LongIsland.com).

Related Coverage

• New York Awards Nearly $500M in Water Grants, $52M to Finger Lakes
• New York Approves $200M for Water Projects, Including $5M for Rochester Filters
• New York Opens $225M Clean Water for Housing Grants for Municipalities
• New York Awards $265 Million for Water Infrastructure and Climate Resiliency Projects

Image credit: Patrick Federi via Unsplash. Free-license photo of a wastewater treatment plant; no acceptable image was available from the source articles.

Sources

• LongIsland.com, “Governor Hochul Announces $249 Million In Grants Awarded To 181 Water Quality Protection Projects Across New York State,” https://www.longisland.com/news/10-30-26/governor-hochul-announces-249-million-in-grants-awarded-to-181-water-quality-protection-projects-across-new-york-state.html
• Utica Phoenix, “New York Water Quality Grants Bring $2 Million to Annsville, NY,” https://uticaphoenix.net/new-york-water-quality-grants-annsville/
• WETM (via Yahoo News), “Chemung County receives $400k for storm cleanup,” https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/chemung-county-receives-400k-storm-170142619.html
• New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, “WQIP 2026 Awards List,” https://dec.ny.gov/sites/default/files/2026-10/WQIP2026AwardsList.pdf
• New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, “Water Quality Improvement Project (WQIP) Program,” http://www.dec.ny.gov/get-involved/grant-applications/wqip-program