The City of Daytona Beach is poised to receive more than $54 million in forgivable state loans to harden and modernize its water and wastewater systems, helping protect essential services before, during and after major storms. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) has allocated:

• $19.17 million from the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) 
• $35.14 million from the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) 

for a combined $54.3 million in funding. These allocations come from the Supplemental Appropriation for Hurricanes Helene and Milton and Hawai‘i Wildfires (SAHM), a federal program created in response to recent catastrophic natural disasters. 

The SAHM program offers 100% principal forgiveness to communities that meet “financially disadvantaged” criteria, which Daytona Beach does based on census data. 

Funding focused on resiliency, not general flood mitigation projects.

While tied to disasters like hurricanes and wildfires, SAHM funding is specific. Projects must “reduce flood or fire damage risk and vulnerability or enhance resiliency to rapid hydrologic change or natural disasters at treatment works.” The money cannot be used for general neighborhood stormwater or flood-mitigation projects. Instead, it is designed to make critical utility facilities more resilient so the city can continue providing safe drinking water and reliable wastewater service during extreme weather.

Next steps: turning the allocation into real projects 

It is important to note that this is currently an allocation, not a finalized agreement. There are several steps the city must complete to fully realize the benefits of this funding. Over the coming months, Utilities staff will: 

• Engage an outside consultant To help ensure all state and federal requirements are met, from environmental reviews to documentation, procurement and reporting. 
• Prioritize projects within the allocation Because the city did not receive 100% of the requested funding, Utilities staff will carefully review and rank the proposed projects to determine which will move forward under this funding. 
• Coordinate designs to meet program standards Any project funded through this program must be designed and constructed in accordance with SAHM and FDEP requirements, with appropriate documentation that ties back to disaster resiliency. 

City staff anticipate it will take several weeks to finalize the list of projects to be advanced with this forgivable funding.

As the project list is finalized and design and construction timelines are developed, the city will continue to share updates with residents through its regular communication channels.