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Committee advances $1.2M in ARPA interest to water repairs and schedules review of larger $6.87M reallocation

St. Louis City Housing, Urban Development, and Zoning Committee · February 17, 2026

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Summary

The committee advanced Board Bill 160 to allocate $1.2 million in ARPA interest to immediate water main and valve repairs and heard presentation on a proposed $6.866 million ARPA reallocation (Board Bill 161) that will return next week with detailed exhibits.

The committee approved Board Bill 160, moving $1.2 million of ARPA interest funds to the St. Louis Water Division to address immediate infrastructure repair and replacement needs.

Director Niraj Patel, director of public utilities for the St. Louis Water Division, said the funds will be used on a subset of critical water-main replacements and valve work from a list of 64 identified projects across the city. "We do intend to put these funds in Board Bill 160 to use to do a subset of these projects, probably 2 or 3 of them that we've identified," Patel said, adding that individual mains average about a city block and that some replacements approach higher costs.

Patel and committee members discussed the scale of need: committee members and staff noted an internal capital project list exceeding $700 million and estimated replacement of the 64 currently-identified mains near $28–32 million. Patel said the water division is pursuing a rate sufficiency study and conversations with the comptroller, state SRF programs and financial advisors about bonding and blended funding approaches to tackle the long-term backlog.

Sponsor Alderman Schweitzer introduced Board Bill 161, a proposed reallocation of roughly $6,866,460.48 in ARPA funds to the water division; Caitlin Smith, policy advisor to the mayor, said departments will provide a fact sheet and more detailed exhibits next week and the committee deferred a vote to gather that information.

The committee voted to advance Board Bill 160 with a due-pass recommendation (no objection on previous roll). Board Bill 161 was discussed and scheduled for further review.