Westville Flooding, Sewer Back-Ups Focus Of $500K Climate Grant

WESTVILLE, CT — Mayor Justin Elicker joined state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Commissioner Katie Dykes at Edgewood Park Wednesday morning to announce $8.8 million in funding for the inaugural round of grants for the DEEP Climate Resilience Fund.

The funding, which will support 21 projects around the state, both in coastal and inland communities, includes a $506,000 grant for the Greater New Haven Water Pollution Control Authority. The money will fund studies on street flooding and sewer back-ups that are occurring in part of the Westville neighborhood, a FEMA Flood Zone, and to "identify and evaluate options for potential projects that include nature-based solutions."

The DEEP Climate Resilience Fund provides grants to help Connecticut communities initiate planning and develop projects that will help communities become more resilient to the effects of climate change. The fund specifically is intended to support climate resilience planning at regional, municipal, and neighborhood-level scales, and to support resilience project scoping and development. Called an "historic state-level investment into climate resilience planning and project development," it was established by Executive Order in 2021.

The funds are for "climate adaptation and resilience planning and project development" with conditions including "the design of nature-based solutions, including green infrastructure; flood prevention, climate resilience and erosion control systems; gray infrastructure; and non-structural project solutions."

Dykes and Elicker were joined by Hamden Mayor Lauren Garrett, representatives of the Greater New Haven Water Pollution Control Authority, state Rep. Pat Dillon, Alders Richard Furlow and Adam Marchand, other city officials, and community stakeholders.