In response to the damage caused to North Carolina’s public water systems by Hurricane Helene, the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ) has been awarded a $409.4 million federal grant to help water utilities improve drinking water infrastructure so those systems can better withstand natural disasters such as hurricanes.

On Aug. 11, 2025, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the $409.4 million grant to NCDEQ and in that announcement EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said, the funding “will help secure the infrastructure of these systems.”

As a result of the $409.4 million grant, NCDEQ is currently accepting “Fall 2025” loan applications from local governments, nonprofit water/wastewater providers, and investor-owned drinking water companies that were impacted by Hurricane Helene, according to Cathy Akroyd, NCDEQ’s Public Information Officer, Division of Water Infrastructure, who told The Driller the deadline to file the “Fall” applications is Sept. 30, 2025, at 5 pm Eastern time.

Tropical storm Helene was declared a hurricane on Sept. 25, 2024, and it made landfall in Florida on Sept. 26, 2024 with maximum sustained winds of 140 mph. The hurricane moved inland impacting Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and Indiana, causing 252 deaths, and damage estimated at $78.7 billion with North  Carolina reporting damages of $59.6 billion.

“Hurricane Helene severely damaged drinking water systems throughout Western North Carolina and thousands of people were without safe drinking water for weeks,” said NCDEQ Secretary Reid Wilson in the EPA announcement. “These investments will make drinking water systems more resilient to future storms, helping to ensure that communities have uninterrupted access to healthy water,” he said.

NCDEQ has outlined the specifics for this funding which are:

• Funds will be made available as no interest loans, with principal forgiveness applied to the loan.
  
  
• Project funding can have 20- to 30-year loan terms based on the anticipated life of the infrastructure.
  
  
• An initial cap of $5 million per applicant for wastewater projects, and $10 million per applicant for drinking water projects will be applied, but the cap might be increased after April, 2026 based on funding availability.
  
  
• All funds must be spent within five years, or by December 2031 (whichever arrives first).

Local government units that want to access these funds will need to file an application, Akroyd said. Furthermore, following the Sept. 30, 2025 deadline to file applications, NCDEQ will accept “rolling applications” for SRF Hurricane Helene Funding, according to Akroyd, who said applications received by Nov. 3, 2025; Jan. 9, 2026 and March 2, 2026 will be reviewed and presented at scheduled State Water Infrastructure Authority meetings.

The types of projects that can receive grants through the State Revolving Fund (SRF) Hurricane Helene Funding program include projects that reduce flood risk and vulnerability at drinking water/wastewater treatment works, or those that enhance resiliency to rapid hydrologic change or natural disasters at treatment works.

Examples of the types of drinking water and wastewater projects that can be funded under the decentralized wastewater treatment systems in areas affected by Hurricane Helene (SA-HMW) are:

• Projects that prevent interruption of collection/distribution system operation in the event of a flood or natural disaster.
  
  
• Projects that prevent floodwaters from entering treatment works or well house.
  
  
• Projects that maintain the operation of treatment works and integrity of a treatment train in the event of a flood or natural disaster.
  
  
• Projects that preserve and protect treatment works equipment in the event of a flood or natural disaster.
  
  
• Projects that make connections from homes served by decentralized wastewater treatment systems to centralized wastewater treatment systems.

NCDEQ stresses that is not an all-inclusive list.

Akroyd urges North Carolina water systems seeking loan funding to access the Applications Webpage to download the application forms and to submit the completed application.