Gov. Charlie Baker last week announced more than $17.3 million in grants aimed at helping repair failing dams, coastal infrastructure and levees across the state.

The grants, awarded by the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs as part of their Dam and Seawall Program, will support construction projects in more than two dozen communities.

Baker said the grants will help toughen critical resilience projects in the face of a changing climate.

“The commonwealth’s cities and towns are seeing the impacts of climate change every day,” Baker said. “These grants will help municipalities make substantial progress to maintain and repair aging dams and seawalls across Massachusetts.”

State Sen. Bruce Tarr, the Republican leader in the Massachusetts Senate, said the dam and seawall project represents a critical partnership between the administration, the Legislature and local municipal leaders struggling to balance the needs of maintaining dams while also funding local schools and public safety needs.

“All over this state and particularly on the coast there are a lot of local officials and others that every night lay awake thinking about how they’re going to meet their obligation to maintain some of the most complex and challenging pieces of public infrastructure that exist in our state and a lot of time they’re doing it with very limited municipal budgets,” Tarr said.

“That answer is that we do it in collaboration and we do it with partnership,” added Tarr, who represents several coastal communities north of Boston including Gloucester and Rockport.