Rural Water and Waste Disposal Program

Department & Agency:

Department of Agriculture

http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/?navid=USDA_ARRA

Administering Agency:

USDA Rural Development, Water and Environment Programs

 http://www.usda.gov/rus/water/

Agency Contacts:

Tedd Buelow, Native American Coordinator, Rural Development 202-690-1681 tedd.buelow@wdc.usda.gov
Sandi Boughton, Director, Water Programs Division 202- 720-9583 sandi.boughton@wdc.usda.gov
Rural Development State Agency contacts at http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/recd_map.html

·        www.rurdev.usda.gov/scrty/sdirs.html

·        www.rurdev.usda.gov/rd/aian/coordinators.html

Stimulus Funding:

$1,380,000,000 appropriated which will support $2,820,000,000 in direct loans and $968,000,000 in grants for water and waste disposal facilities in rural areas.

Eligibility and Type:

Indian tribes, municipalities, counties, special purpose districts, and corporations not operated for profit, including cooperatives.

Program Description:

The Water and Environmental Program (WEP) provides a combination of loans, grants, and loan guarantees for drinking water, sanitary sewer, solid waste, and storm drainage facilities in rural areas and cities and towns of 10,000 or less. WEP also makes grants to nonprofit organizations to provide technical assistance and training to assist rural communities with water, wastewater, and solid waste management.

Loan and grant funds may be used to:
• Construct, repair, modify, expand, or otherwise improve water supply and distribution systems and waste collection and treatment systems, including storm drainage and solid waste disposal facilities. Certain other costs related to development of the facility may also be covered.
• Acquire needed land, water sources, and water rights.
• Pay costs such as legal and engineering fees when necessary to develop the facilities.

Program information at http://www.usda.gov/rus/water/
Fact sheet at http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/rd/pubs/pa1806.pdf

General Provisions:

Under the Stimulus, at least 10 percent of this program account shall be allocated for assistance in persistent poverty counties. Persistent poverty counties’’ means any county that has had 20 percent or more of its population living in poverty over the past 30 years, as measured by the 1980, 1990, and 2000 decennial censuses. Tribal eligibility for funding under this provision has not yet been determined.

Funding Notices:

Notices under the Stimulus are not available at this time. All current and future USDA Rural Development Notices of Funding Availability are (or will be) posted at: http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/rd/nofas/index.html.

Technical Assistance:

Contact your Rural Development State Office at http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/recd_map.html