Former Rhode Island governor and current U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo announced on Tuesday, Nov. 19, her office's Economic Development Administration (EDA) is awarding a $3.1 million grant to the Town of Warren for electrical and wastewater infrastructure upgrades.

The grant will allow the town to conduct necessary improvements to its wastewater treatment facility off Water Street, which was damaged by back-to-back storms in 2021 and 2022. There is a $250,000 town match in local funds. Without the repairs, the facility would not be able to support businesses in Warren that employees thousands.

“The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to ensuring that all communities in Rhode Island and across the country have the resources needed to not only recover from natural disasters but to grow strong, resilient, and prosperous local economies,” Raimondo was quoted in a press release issued on the grant. “This EDA investment will help ensure that the town of Warren has the electrical and wastewater infrastructure it needs to withstand future flooding and other natural disasters.”

Town Manager Brian Sullivan credited a pair of former Warren employees for helping gain the grant: Kate Michaud and Herb Durfee.

Michaud was actually Sullivan's full-time predecessor in the Town Manager's position. She served in that role from late 2017 to about the same time in 2023. She stepped aside last fall to become the District Director for United States Congressman Gabe Amo upon his election to replace the retired David Cicilline.

Prior to that, as well, she was the Warren Town Planner, a position Durfee held until just a month or so ago before he left to take over the same job in neighboring Barrington.

According to Sullivan and Durfee, in October of 2021 the primary electrical feed from the main switch to the operations building at the town's wastewater treatment facility failed due to flooding. The situation required the use of a second, redundant feed as a stop-gap measure.

In addition, Sullivan, who was hired in the stead of interim Town Manager and Warren Police Chief Roy Borges this past spring, said he learned from Durfee the impact of the storm required other electrical system improvements.

"These major electrical upgrades are critical for a reliable, functioning facility to avoid untreated wastewater discharge," Sullivan continued. "This grant will accomplish these upgrades and improve resilience to forecasted future flooding at the facility."

Added Durfee, "The value-added benefit of the funding from US Economic Development Administration will afford Warren the opportunity to build redundancy in its wastewater system. The system currently is operating without a proper back-up, given the electrical failure in the 2021 due to storm damage and corrosion.

"Additionally, the EDA funding will help the town build resiliency into the electrical system. The work intended includes an installation that will make the electric system less susceptible to climate change, especially periodic storms that result in flooding in the area of the treatment facility off Water Street."

The work to be conducted with the grant funding includes:

• the installation of new motor control centers;
• new electrical switchboard;
• concrete work to expand the existing elevated structure;
• installation of new underground duct between the operations building and the expanded switchboard which is replacing electrical equipment that was damaged during flooding;
• and provide communications for the control system and primary sludge pump station

Sullivan emphasized, "All of this work will be designed to be resilient."

In the same press release quoting Raimondo, Amo said of the grant, “We need resilient infrastructure that can withstand the harmful impacts of the climate crisis. I thank Secretary Raimondo for her continued commitment to improving cities and towns in Rhode Island like Warren, who will benefit from this critical investment to mitigate risk and safeguard our community from extreme weather.”

The project is funded under the Disaster Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2023, which provided EDA with $483 million in additional Economic Adjustment Assistance (EAA) Program funds for disaster relief and recovery for areas that received a major disaster declaration under the Robert T. Stafford Act as a result of Hurricanes Ian and Fiona, wildfires, flooding, and other natural disasters occurring in calendar years 2021 and 2022.