UMVRDC has authored a successful grant application to the Federal Economic Development Administration (EDA) for a new lift station in the City of Granite Falls. The lift station will lessen disaster impacts from flooding events on the City’s economic base and make the community as a whole more disaster-resilient. EDA is providing $1,512,000 in grant funding and the City has been working with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) for an additional $378,000 to cover the remaining cost of the project.
Granite Falls has a long-standing relationship with the UMVRDC related to their mitigation and grant writing efforts. Granite Falls established a taskforce that has been meeting regularly since 1997, working to reduce future disaster impacts to the community. A few keys to the success of the flood mitigation taskforce include:
- dedicated city staff and elected officials;
- development of a local mitigation plan early on;
- staying organized and meeting regularly;
- keeping partners like the UMVRDC aware of their needs; and
- always remaining vigilant and being ready to act when needed to invest in additional planning, engineering and design.
The lift station is a very important project that will help complete a comprehensive approach to flood mitigation in Granite Falls.
You can read more about this project in the Granite Falls Advocate Tribune.
