USDA to Award $314 Million for Water and Wastewater Improvements
The U.S. Department of Agriculture will be providing more than $300 million in grants and loans for 141 projects that will be working to improve water and wastewater infrastructures in rural communities throughout the country.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture will be providing more than $300 million in grants and loans for 141 projects that will be working to improve water and wastewater infrastructures in rural communities throughout the country. Eighty-eight of those projects will be given $299 million of the grant money specifically for the Water and Waste Disposal Loan and Grant Program. The remaining $15 million will go to an additional 53 grants as part of the Emergency Community Water Assistance Grant (ECWAG) program.
Under the ECWAG grants, communities will be able to better prepare and/or recover from emergencies that may threaten their safe drinking water. The Big Sandy Rancheria Band of Western Mono Indians in Fresno, Calif., has received such a grant in the amount of $494,3000 to drill a new well and connect it to another water system. Another water district in Louisiana will be using $736,000 in grant money to upgrade water tanks and other equipment at one of their wastewater treatment facilities.
Several other projects will take place in New Hampshire, Minnesota, California, New Mexico, including some Native American areas. For more information, please click here.