Water and Environmental

Frequently Asked Questions

1. I don't have access to clean drinking water. What can I do to obtain safe, clean, and affordable drinking water
2. My community has a lot of septic tanks that do not work. Raw sewerage often runs in the roadside ditches. Our small town is in need of a sewer system. Where can we get help?
3. How can our community get a grant to build a water system?
4. Our area is experiencing a drought and many private wells are dry. What help is available?
5. Do you have special programs for Native Americans?

Question. I don't have access to clean drinking water. What can I do to obtain safe, clean, and affordable drinking water?

Answer. Contact the USDA Rural Development State or local office. See the office locator at http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/recd_map.html. The Rural Housing or RUS program personnel in the state office can help you or your community find the best program to meet your community's needs. The Rural Housing Service (RHS) can make home improvement loans to construct or improve wells and to provide funds to connect a house to a public water system. Low-income senior citizens may qualify for grant funds. RUS can assist in financing a new public water system for the community or extend water service from a neighboring community.

Question. My community has a lot of septic tanks that do not work. Raw sewerage often runs in the roadside ditches. Our small town is in need of a sewer system. Where can we get help?

Answer. Contact the USDA Rural Development office in your state. See the office locator at http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/recd_map.html. They can help communities to first determine what they might need and then help them with the financing to construct facilities like a sewer system or even on-site systems so long as the facilities will be owned and operated by a public or quasi-public body. In some cases, the solution may be to develop and then enforce rules for onsite waste disposal. The Rural Housing Service (RHS) may be able to assist homeowners with loans, or in the case of low-income senior citizens, grant funds to make needed improvements to their on-site systems

Answer. The RUS Water and Waste Disposal (WWD) loan and grant program is available to eligible applicants to construct or improve drinking water, sanitary sewer, solid waste, and storm drainage facilities. Applicants must be public bodies, nonprofit organizations, and recognized Indian tribes. Facilities must be located outside cities and towns of more than 10,000 people and be unable to finance their needs from their own resources and be unable to obtain credit from commercial credit sources at reasonable rates and terms. Grant funds are limited to applicants serving areas with a median household income (MHI) of less than the Statewide nonmetropolitan MHI. Grants cannot exceed 75 percent of project costs, and are limited to the amount necessary to result in reasonable user rates.

Question. Our area is experiencing a drought and many private wells are dry. What help is available?

Answer. The RUS Water and Waste Disposal loan and grant program could assist with a community water system and the Rural Housing Service may be able to assist individual homeowners.

Answer. Yes. WWD grant funds are set aside for recognized Native American tribes.