Duckworth Announces $750,000 in Congressionally Directed Spending for Water Infrastructure Improvements in Sesser

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today announced that $750,000 she secured through a Fiscal Year 2022 Congressionally Directed Spending Request will be sent by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to the City of Sesser for the rehabilitation of its sanitary sewer collection system. The funding Duckworth requested will be used to update and renovate the City’s severely outdated sewer collection system, addressing a vital public health threat. In 2014, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) served notice of violation resulting from overflow at the sewage treatment plant, causing a health and safety threat to residents.

“Our state and our nation are stronger when we invest in our communities and families—and that’s one of the things Congressionally Directed Spending allows us to do,” said Duckworth. “I’m so proud I was able to secure this critical support for Sesser to help improve its water infrastructure. I’m dedicated to ensuring historically under-resourced and rural communities have the resources they need to invest in, repair and update their drinking water and wastewater systems to have safe, reliable water.”

“We want to thank Senator Duckworth and her office for their support in this project, which comes at a time when many small communities are struggling to pay for infrastructure improvements,” Sesser Mayor Jason Ashmore said. “This funding will go a long way in rebuilding our wastewater system that dates back to the 1930s, and we are truly grateful for the support to modernize our current system.”

Co-founder of the U.S. Senate’s Environmental Justice Caucus, improving water infrastructure in Illinois and across the country has been one of Duckworth’s top priorities. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law included Duckworth’s Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Act (DWWIA) and is the most significant federal investment in water infrastructure in history. DWWIA, which has a focus on disadvantaged communities, will help rebuild our nation’s crumbling and dangerous water infrastructure and enable communities to repair and modernize their failing wastewater systems.

In FY22, Duckworth and U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) secured $211 million through Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS) for Illinois and another $182 million for Illinois in FY23. The CDS process does not represent new spending, rather it enables Members of Congress to allocate existing funding for specific local projects by units of government, nonprofit organizations and other organizations that meet strict eligibility requirements.

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