Press Releases

At a press conference outside Agawam Town Hall today, Congressman Richard E. Neal, Chair of the House Committee on Ways and Means announced a $740,000 earmark to the Town’s Main Street Sewer Main and Slope Stabilization project alongside Agawam Mayor William Sapelli.

The allocation was made possible through Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS) from the Department of the Interior and the Environment. Congressman Neal submitted funding for this project in the Fiscal Year 2022 spending bill that was signed into law earlier this year.

“Across our country and right here at home, our infrastructure is aging,” said Congressman Neal. “I fought to procure this funding for Agawam as it will have a significant impact on the environment, protect the Connecticut and Westfield Rivers, and upgrade the Town’s sewer and stormwater management operations.”

“Addressing infrastructure needs is a high priority in all districts. The major obstacle is funding due to the volume and age of these water and sewer systems. We greatly appreciate this earmark that Congressman Neal fought for to assist Agawam in its time of need. Due to the Chairman’s involvement, we will be able to address more of these crucial problems.”

Agawam’s plans for this funding are twofold:

1. To relocate the sanitary sewer interceptor main located at the top of the embankment of the Westfield River. This will ensure the sanitary sewer does not discharge into the river but flows to the nearby treatment plant instead.
2. To restore the embankment to an outfall adjacent to Main Street to prevent erosion from compromising Main Street/Route 159

Under guidelines issued by the Senate and House Appropriations Committees, members of Congress requested CDS funding for projects in their state for Fiscal Year 2022. CDS requests were restricted to a limited number of federal funding streams, and only state and local governments and eligible non-profit entities were permitted to receive CDS funding.

This project is one of ten CDS projects submitted by Congressman Neal, totaling over $9 million in investments throughout the First Congressional District of Massachusetts.

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