New Jersey's water infrastructure is in dire need of upgrades particularly in the smallest towns in our state which may not have the same access to Federal funding to make improvements today the Department of Environmental Protection and the Environmental Protection Agency launched a program to address those gaps it's called njtap and it's designed to guide New Jersey's smallest municipalities through the process of identifying their water infrastructure deficiencies applying for funding and getting the work started senior correspondent Brenda Flanagan spoke with state and federal environmental leaders about how towns can use the program to provide clean drinking water for families from century-old water mains that break and flood streets to lead service lines that threaten Public Safety every New Jersey towns got a to-do list of water infrastructure projects but how can small municipalities compete for the millions in federal infrastructure funding that's now available we are the government we've got money for you and we are here to help and that's no joke said dep commissioner Sean La Tourette announcing the New Jersey technical assistance program or tap it'll help towns put together proper applications for say water treatment system upgrades or new distribution pipelines East Newark mayor Dina Grillo says a free program like njtop could help keep a lid on taxes I am going to use any resource that comes out of the EPA and the dep we're a very small Borough right so we have stabilized taxes and we don't want to burden our our residents our Town's already participating in the epa's accelerated lead service line replacement program and she envisions NJ tap could help fix a problem with combined sewer and storm water overflows and we also don't have the expertise they have the expertise that's what we need we don't have the capacity we don't have the the subject matter expertise that's what the EPA and the New Jersey dep is going to provide provide for us part of our job is to make sure that the water systems are delivering clean water so we have all their data we know where there is more need than others and we can identify from our records where folks seem to be struggling who could use our help so that they can take advantage of millions of dollars in funding that is available and that's really the goal is making sure the communities that need the funding the most are able to come in the door and access that funding for now five towns have enrolled Freehold Borough Atlantic City mua Gloucester City Westville and Salem and Jake Tapp will help towns locate all the lead service lines that need replacement it'll offer technical financial and managerial expertise to clean up problems like toxic chemicals and drinking water but it'll also encourage community outreach so residents can participate in planning these projects it's a matter of environmental Equity that the public has the opportunity to learn about the availability of these federal and state funds that the benefits that they will bring and to make sure that they have a say in where and how these funds are going to get distributed David zimmerheads New Jersey's infrastructure Bank he says the bank's already approved 118 million dollars in water loans in February alone and he says that created close to 1500 construction jobs njtop can help towns get the funding we're going to have to review projects to make sure that they're compliant with all the laws and the regulations the money is already flowing out of the bipartisan infrastructure law and njtap's already underway so towns with vexing water problems are urged to get in the pipeline in Harrison I'm Brenda Flanagan NJ Spotlight news [Music] [Music]