EPA funds water infrastructure resiliency in North Carolina after Hurricane Helene
On the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Helene, EPA officials toured Lake Lure, N.C., one of the mountain towns hardest hit by the storm’s 22 inches of rainfall and widespread flooding.
EPA has committed $685 million to North Carolina for water infrastructure resiliency and an additional $61 million for hurricane recovery through the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). The agency also helped restore drinking water and wastewater systems, supported local operators, and analyzed more than 1,500 private well samples in the aftermath of the storm.
Cleanup efforts included collecting 1,200 containers of hazardous materials and recovering more than 20,000 gallons of oil and oil-contaminated fluids for disposal or recycling.
According to state officials, the funding will be awarded to local water and wastewater systems to improve resiliency and prepare communities for future extreme weather events.
