New London Water authority awards $50,000 in community grants; two students receive Aldo Valentini scholarships

Barry Weiner, chairman of the New London Water and Water Pollution Control Authority, announced the authority’s 2025 Community Water Fund grant awards and Aldo Valentini scholarships at a June 16 ceremony.

The authority distributed a total of $50,000 to local organizations and students, Weiner said, noting the program is funded under the city’s service contract with Veolia Water. “To date, since we started this program, we've awarded well over $1,000,000,” Weiner said. He described the awards as part of the authority’s community outreach under its contract operations for water and sewer systems.

The largest single grant in the announced list was $8,000 to Project Oceanology for a watershed STEM program for K–12 students. Other grants and amounts announced at the event include: Alley Wyeth Cove Conservancy $5,500; Denison Pequot Nature Center $2,000; Fresh Crew / Grama (sustainable agriculture/blight remediation) $5,700; William and Lynn's Science and Saving Foundation $4,100; New London Homeless and Hospitality Center $1,000; New London Maritime (program visits to local schools) $5,500; New Affairs (nature/outreach program) $4,500; OBSCO/Project Oceanology (marine heritage festival support) $3,400; Save Ocean Beach $400 (replacement of a water feature); Spark Marketplace / Spark Start Lab $400; and Spark Marketplace Drop-in Learning Center $4,500 to support summer enrichment including transportation for swimming lessons and fishing trips. (Amounts and program descriptions as announced at the ceremony.)

Weiner also announced two $2,500 Aldo Valentini scholarships. The recipients named at the ceremony were Adrian Boshard, a Waterford resident graduating from Grasso Technical (planning to attend Massachusetts Maritime Academy to study environmental science or environmental engineering), and Cashel Jones, a New London High School graduate planning to attend Eckerd College to study marine or environmental science. Weiner said the scholarship program is funded by Veolia and honors Aldo Valentini, a longtime authority member.

At the ceremony Weiner described several authority initiatives and ongoing projects tied to the authority’s operations, including the city’s lead service line abatement program. “This multimillion dollar project should be complete within the next year,” Weiner said, adding the project is being done with state and federal grant money and “will not cost our water customers anything.” He also praised Veolia staff, the authority’s engineers (Arcadis) and Burns Construction for work on the program. Weiner made additional remarks about the authority’s stormwater utility and wastewater treatment, which he characterized as model projects for Connecticut; those statements were given as the authority’s public summary of its work.

Application information for next year’s awards was announced: applications will be available at the Veolia office and the WWPCA office in January–February, with submission by March (as announced). The authority did not announce changes to eligibility rules or to the total funding amount for future cycles during the ceremony.

The award presentation was held before the City Council meeting and included brief remarks from the mayor and recognition of the Valentini family.