State Rep. Beth Griffin, of Mattawan, announced the village of Mattawan has been given approval to use $698,000 in leftover Stormwater, Asset Management, and Wastewater (SAW) funds to design a new wastewater treatment facility.

Mattawan was awarded a SAW grant in 2017 to clean the main connecting their village to Kalamazoo. Any unexpended funds from that grant were initially due to be returned to the state. However, thanks to the advocacy efforts of Rep. Griffin and village officials, Mattawan has since been given approval to use the funds for the design of a new wastewater treatment facility. Being unable to transfer this money would have required the village to borrow funds from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to complete the project.

“By working together, we were able to gain approval to transfer this grant money to a new project, saving the village of Mattawan hundreds of thousands of dollars,” Griffin said. “Thank you to EGLE for taking this common-sense approach and to village officials for their efforts to seize this opportunity.”

The SAW program is administered by the Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) and provides grant assistance for the development of asset management plans for wastewater and stormwater, stormwater management planning, stormwater and wastewater project planning and design, and testing and demonstration of innovative technology.

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