PRIVATE PROPERTY INFLOW AND INFILTRATION GRANT PROGRAM
Inflow and infiltration is clear water — stormwater and groundwater — that enters the wastewater system. More than half of this clear water in the metro region’s sewer system comes from private properties, homes, and businesses. The sewer laterals that connect private properties to the city sanitary sewer and can experience cracks and deterioration from age or when roots break through the pipes, allowing groundwater into the system. This clear water doesn’t need to be treated as wastewater. It can take up space in the wastewater system and cause costly sewer backups into homes and buildings, or sewer overflows into rivers and lakes.
The Private Property Inflow and Infiltration Grant Program provides $1.5 million metro wide in wastewater revenue to provide grants to private property owners to help with repairs that will remove and prevent clear water from entering the wastewater treatment system. The Minnesota Legislature allowed the Met Council to provide grant funding to local municipalities to assist private property owners with costs associated with repairing sewer infrastructure on their property.
Eligibility
This grant program is available to the region’s municipalities that the Met Council has designated as excessive inflow and infiltration contributors, which includes Excelsior. Excelsior received $33,000 in grant money to distribute to private property owners or contractors in alignment with the grant program guidelines.
Eligible work includes
- Private lateral repair and / or replacement
- Foundation and surface drain disconnections and new sump pumps, if associated with the foundation/surface drain disconnect
- Sewer lateral inspection and cleaning costs if:
- Applicant meets the equity need or
- Televising and cleaning result in repair or replacement of sewer lateral
Grant awards may be 50% of eligible costs up to $5,000. Qualified spending on eligible work can happen between Jan. 1, 2026 and Dec. 31, 2026.