USDA Grants, Loans Will Bring Reliable Water to Oklahoma
A combination of $23.6 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grants and loans from USDA's Rural Development will give the people who live in rural McCurtain County, Okla., another choice. They won't have to choose between washing their dirty clothes or taking a bath.
McCurtain County is using Recovery Act funds to build a new water system for the area – four pump stations, three storage tanks and miles of distribution lines.
The county is one of 14 persistent poverty counties in Oklahoma. USDA's Economic Research Service defines counties as being persistently poor if 20 percent or more of the people who live there were poor over the last 30 years, using the decennial censuses.
This project is just one of hundreds of USDA success stories made possible through the Recovery Act. Altogether, the Department has announced approximately $27.8 billion of the $28 billion in Recovery Act projects, benefiting people throughout the country.
More information about USDA's Recovery Act efforts is available at www.usda.gov/recovery.
Watch this ARRA success story video at www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vgvs2MBcri0.