Ellerbe and Hamlet will share $1.3 million of the $27.7 million in grants announced Friday by the N.C. Rural Economic Development Center.

The center funded 119 projects across the state. It also announced that 11 communities have been accepted into the N.C. Small Towns Economic Prosperity Program.

The center's board of directors approved the grants April 29. Funding for the programs is provided through appropriations of the N.C. General Assembly.

The Town of Ellerbe will get $847,613 to connect the town with a regional wastewater system that discharges to the City of Rockingham's treatment plant. Flow to Ellerbe's current treatment plant exceeds its capacity, and discharges have exceeded limits for fecal coliform bacteria.

Ellerbe will also get $32,000 to study the wastewater collection system for causes of infiltration by rain and groundwater.

The City of Hamlet was awarded $500,000 to repair the dam for the town's water supply reservoir. The N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources rated the dam as a high hazard dam in 2008. Repairs are expected to cost more than $1 million.

Approximately $21 million of the Rural Center money will go to 76 water and sewer projects that address serious issues related to public or environmental health. The funds will leverage another $40 million in project investments. More than half of the awards will aid counties the N.C. Department of Commerce has identified as Tier 1, the state's most economically distressed.

For more, see Tuesday’s Daily Journal.