PROVIDENCE – The Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank has awarded a $1.4 million grant to the University of Rhode Island’s Cooperative Extension to continue its work assisting the R.I. Department of Health and the R.I. Department of Environmental Management in identifying reasons why groundwater and surface water might be contaminated with synthetic chemicals.
Grant funding was made available through the Environmental Protection Agency’s Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Emerging Contaminants program and complements related federal funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
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“The [URI] Cooperative Extension and Water Quality Program has some of the top researchers in the nation working with state officials to identify and monitor the sources of PFAS [Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances] that are impacting public and private water systems across the state,” said 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 [RIDOH], so that we can identify drinking water sources impacted by PFAS, and then develop infrastructure solutions to remove these and other emerging contaminants.”
Lisa DeProspo Philo, co-director of the URI’s Rhode Island Nonpoint Education for Municipal Officials program, said the grant for the infrastructure bank – the state’s central hub for financing infrastructure improvements for municipalities, businesses and homeowners – provides important support for the program.
“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,” DeProspo Philo said. “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,” said Dr. Jerome Larkin, director of the RIDOH. “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.”
