Lakeville To Get $43K Grant For Rebates To Boost Water Efficiency

LAKEVILLE, MN — Lakeville is in line to receive a $43,000 grant from the Metropolitan Council that will fund rebates to residents who buy new, more water-efficient devices.

The Metropolitan Council announced earlier in May that it is awarding almost $1 million in grants to 37 cities and townships through its Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment.

Those grants are projected to fund rebates on almost 12,000 purchases of more water-efficient devices, helping to save 456 million gallons of water by 2024, according to the council.

"The plan is to stop flushing money down the toilet," the Met Council said in a news release.

The average U.S. family spends more than $1,000 for water each year, but they could save more than $380 annually by installing WaterSense-labeled devices or Energy Star-certified devices, the Met Council said, citing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Lakeville was one of 32 returning applicants to receive a water-efficiency grant from the Met Council this year. The Council launched the grant program in 2015 and has awarded grants in two previous rounds of funding.

"With an unprecedented $1 million of grants available to share, we were able to grant many municipalities more funding than they had received in previous cycles," Met Council principal engineer Brian Davis said in the release.

All 37 municipalities that applied received a grant from the water-efficiency program, Davis said.

Municipalities can use the grants to provide rebates for residents who replace their old toilets, washing machines, dishwashers, irrigation controllers and other devices with more water-efficient models.

Each rebate will be 80 percent funded by the Met Council grants, with municipalities to provide the other 20 percent of rebate funds, officials said. Residents must also pay a portion of the cost for any device they purchase, according to the program.

Grants are due to be distributed to municipalities in early July.