Sen. Guglielmo Praises Inclusion of Stafford Water Project as “Shovel Ready”

Federal stimulus money puts Stafford and two other towns on list of projects that can be funded

State Senator Tony Guglielmo, R-Stafford, today is praising a decision to expand the state’s list of “shovel ready” clean water projects to include the Stafford Wastewater Treatment facility. This means that funding in the amount $12.5 million can be made available this year to help with the costs associated with the project. Earlier today, Gov. M. Jodi Rell announced that Stafford along with the towns of New Milford and South Windsor would be added to the list of highly rated municipal wastewater infrastructure projects that can proceed with construction. According to Sen. Guglielmo, $48.5 million in federal stimulus money will supplement the $270 million the state had set aside for these projects, enabling the Stafford project to be included.

“This is very good news for the town of Stafford. This is a project that is ready to go and this is the shot in the arm that is needed to get it started,” said Sen. Guglielmo. “Clean water is essential and for a project such as this to have been jeopardized over a lack of available funding would have been a threat to the environment and to the people of the Stafford community.”

According to the Governor’s office, the work can begin as early as this spring and would modernize the wastewater facilities and add technology to remove nitrogen from wastewater.