Press Release
Posted:
Washington – Today, Rep. Mike Thompson (CA-04) announced that two projects in Napa County will receive a total of $1,759,752 in funding from the government funding agreement that will be considered by Congress later this week. Rep. Thompson secured $14,992,105 total for projects in California’s Fourth District.
“Community Project Funding requests allow our region to receive funding from the federal government for projects that will help improve our communities and invest in local priorities,” said Thompson. “I worked with partners in Napa County to identify the Water Treatment Plant project and the Napa River Ecology Center project as two priorities that would help protect our water and educate our community about the importance of wetlands, conservation, and habitat protection. I look forward to seeing this funding help advance these important projects.”
The projects in Napa County are:
• $959,752 for the Water Treatment Plant Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition System/Microgrid in St. Helena
• $800,000 for the Napa River Ecology Center
One additional Napa County project is expected to be included in the second tranche of government funding bills set to be considered at the end of the month.
Background on these projects can be found below.
The Water Treatment Plant SCADA and Microgrid project seeks to increase resiliency and redundancy to this critical water supply facility. The facility’s existing outdated Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition system only notifies operators of after-hours alarms. It does not provide them remote operational access to monitor and change elements of the treatment process. Implementation of the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition upgrades is essential for remote operation of the facility, especially as we explore regional operational models for delivery of services. The need for the microgrid system became keenly apparent with the wildfires from the last few years. While the facility is equipped with an emergency generator, extended periods of time without power (e.g. Public Safety Power Shutoffs or damaged grid from wildfires) requires regular refueling of generator, which can be problematic due to the access road for the facility (aka impassible during wildfire events).
The Napa River Ecology Center project will repurpose an unused industrial building, bringing it up to code and making it ADA compliant, so that it can be used as a community education and program center. Once complete, the building will become the Napa River Ecology Center and will host community events for local families, after school programs in conjunction with the project’s partner Napa Valley Unified School District, conservation programs, and citizen science.