Mapleton Water Officials Speak Out about Loss of Funding for Infrastructure
Mapleton water officials are voicing serious concerns after the town unexpectedly lost key infrastructure funding, which was intended to support long-overdue upgrades to its aging water system. Without this financial support, critical projects aimed at improving water quality, reliability, and capacity are now at risk of being delayed or canceled altogether. Officials warn that the loss not only impacts public health and safety but could also hinder future growth and resilience in the community.
According to ABC News, earlier in April, FEMA announced that the agency is ending a popular grant program that gave billions of dollars to help communities protect themselves from natural disasters. The program, called Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities, (BRIC) was a key component of the community of Mapleton’s plans for much-needed water infrastructure upgrades. BRIC was started back in 2020, in the tail end of the first Trump administration, and according to Politico it has distributed $5 billion in grants.
Now, the program’s cancellation, made at the direction of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, impacts all applications from 2020 to 2023. Those include an application submitted by the Mapleton Water District for a $2.7 million, 300,000-gallon water storage tank project to ensure an emergency potable water supply. The project was approved, but the funds had not yet been awarded when the BRIC program was ended. Now the water tank program will never see federal funds, and two other projects were cancelled as well.
