Aiken will receive $3 million from the federal funding bill President Joe Biden signed into law last Saturday.
The bill allocates $3 million to the city for Croft Mill sewer basin improvements, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., announced.
The city is upgrading a sewer lift station in the Shiloh Heights area, City Manager Stuart Bedenbaugh said Tuesday.
Shiloh Heights is a neighborhood located north of the city along S.C. Highway 19 (Edgefield Highway). Though the area is not within the city limits, it lies within the city's utility service area.
The funding allows the city to upgrade the line that connects the upgraded lift station to a county sewer main on Croft Mill Road, Bedenbaugh said.
"We're very excited because one of the things that council is improving and upgrading the utility infrastructure in Aiken and this is another key component of that," he added. "We're grateful that Sen. Graham saw fit to include this in his congressional directed spending. We will certainly make good use of these funds."
Graham's congressionally directed spending requests in a 2022 spending bill included $4.5 million for the city's new water treatment plant.
The spending bill signed into law Saturday also completes the process of funding some of the the Savannah River Site's operations for the current year.
The 2024 National Defense Authorization Act — passed last December — set the recommended funding levels for the site's operations.
The funding bill stays close to the recommended levels and includes $1 billion to fund the conversion of the Mixed-Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility into the Savannah River Plutonium Processing Facility.
The funding bill raises the amount of funding for radioactive waste tank stabilization.
The NDAA recommended $900.32 million in funding. The federal funding bill includes $986.5 million.
The funding bill lowers the amount of funding provided for a new Tritium Finishing Facility.
The NDAA recommended $37 million. The funding bill contains $35 million for the replacement.
The funding bill allocates the same amount, $12.3 million, for community and regulatory support.
