BOONE, Iowa—The City of Boone has been awarded a $200,000 grant by the Iowa Finance Authority to assist in a $2,098,500 project to upgrade its wastewater treatment facility.

Gov. Kim Reynolds said Boone is one of 23 communities that received a total $9 million in the state’s latest round of Wastewater and Drinking Water Treatment Financial Assistance Program, grants to advance water quality projects. The program was created as a part of Senate File 512. That measure was the first legislation Reynolds signed into law in January 2018 with the goal of creating a long-term funding source to help communities upgrade their water infrastructure.

Of the 23 grants, 19 will fund wastewater treatment improvement projects and four will upgrade drinking water systems. The program receives a portion of the tax on metered water and had more than $9 million available for allocation in 2022. Grants will be awarded through the program on an annual basis through 2039. Since its inception, the program has disbursed $18 million, which has leveraged more than $375 million in additional funds for critical water quality infrastructure projects across the state, Reynolds said.

Mayor John Slight noted that the state program received 60 applications requesting more than $24 million in water quality grants. “We appreciate that Governor Reynolds and the review committee, which included designees from the Iowa Finance Authority, Iowa Department of Natural Resources, and the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship recognized the value of our project and its benefits to improve water quality in our watershed,” Slight said.

(contributed press release, City of Boone)